CVE-2004-0103 in Crawl
Summary
by MITRE
crawl before 4.0.0 beta23 does not properly "apply a size check" when copying a certain environment variable, which may allow local users to gain privileges, possibly as a result of a buffer overflow.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/22/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2004-0103 affects the crawl software version prior to 4.0.0 beta23, representing a critical security flaw that stems from inadequate input validation during environment variable handling. This issue manifests when the application processes specific environment variables without implementing proper size constraints, creating a potential pathway for privilege escalation attacks. The flaw resides in the software's failure to adequately validate the length of environment variable data before copying it into internal buffers, which directly violates fundamental security principles of input sanitization and memory management.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability demonstrates a classic buffer overflow condition where insufficient size checking allows maliciously crafted environment variables to exceed allocated memory boundaries. When crawl processes environment variables, it performs a copy operation without verifying that the source data fits within the destination buffer limits, enabling attackers to inject excessive data that overflows adjacent memory regions. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-121, which specifically addresses stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and represents a fundamental failure in memory safety practices that has been a persistent concern in software development since the early days of computing systems.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as local users who can manipulate environment variables may potentially execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. Attackers could exploit this weakness by crafting environment variables containing malicious payloads that, when processed by the vulnerable crawl application, trigger the buffer overflow condition. The consequences could range from unauthorized system access to complete system compromise, depending on the privileges of the user executing the vulnerable software. This vulnerability particularly affects systems where users can influence environment variable settings, making it a significant concern for multi-user environments and systems with shared resources.
Security professionals should implement immediate mitigations including updating to crawl version 4.0.0 beta23 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address the size checking deficiencies. Additionally, system administrators should consider implementing environment variable restrictions and monitoring for unusual environment variable patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of following secure coding practices as outlined in the software security development lifecycle, particularly the need for proper input validation and memory management. Organizations should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify any other applications that may be susceptible to similar buffer overflow conditions, as this type of flaw continues to represent one of the most prevalent and dangerous categories of security vulnerabilities in software systems.