CVE-2002-0014 in Pine
Summary
by MITRE
URL-handling code in Pine 4.43 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a URL enclosed in single quotes and containing shell metacharacters (&).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/07/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2002-0014 represents a critical command injection flaw within the Pine email client version 4.43 and earlier. This security weakness resides in the application's URL-handling code which fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input when processing web links. The vulnerability specifically manifests when a URL is enclosed in single quotes and contains shell metacharacters such as the ampersand character. This design flaw creates an environment where malicious actors can craft specially formatted URLs that, when processed by Pine, execute arbitrary shell commands on the affected system.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through a combination of improper input validation and insufficient output escaping mechanisms within Pine's URL processing subsystem. When the application encounters a URL containing single quotes and shell metacharacters, it fails to properly escape or filter these characters before passing them to underlying shell execution functions. This allows attackers to inject malicious shell commands that get executed with the privileges of the user running the Pine application. The use of single quotes in the attack vector suggests that the application's parsing logic does not adequately handle quote escaping or command substitution scenarios, which is a common weakness in legacy applications that were not designed with modern security considerations in mind. This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-78, which describes improper neutralization of special elements used in OS commands, and represents a classic example of command injection vulnerabilities that have plagued software applications for decades.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching for organizations using affected versions of Pine. An attacker who can influence the content of a URL within a Pine email message or web link can potentially execute arbitrary commands on the target system, leading to complete system compromise. This could result in unauthorized data access, privilege escalation, backdoor installation, and persistent access to the compromised system. The vulnerability affects not only individual user systems but also organizational infrastructure where Pine is used as a standard email client. Given that Pine was widely deployed in enterprise environments during this period, the potential attack surface for exploitation was substantial. The remote nature of the attack means that exploitation can occur without requiring physical access to the target system, making it particularly dangerous for networked environments. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.001, which covers command and script injection through the use of shell commands, and represents a fundamental flaw in how the application handles user input that could be exploited for lateral movement and persistence within compromised networks.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigation strategies focusing on both immediate remediation and long-term security improvements. The most effective immediate solution involves upgrading to Pine version 4.44 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the URL handling and command injection flaws. System administrators should also implement network-level controls to restrict access to potentially malicious URLs and consider implementing web application firewalls or proxy servers that can filter out suspicious command sequences. Additionally, users should be educated about the dangers of clicking on untrusted URLs, particularly those that appear in email messages or other communications. Security teams should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify all systems running affected versions of Pine and ensure that proper patch management procedures are in place. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of input validation and output escaping mechanisms in application security, reinforcing the need for security-by-design principles. Organizations should review their legacy application security practices and consider implementing more robust sanitization routines for all user-supplied data that may be processed by shell commands or other system-level functions.