pnpm up to 9.15.x untrusted search path

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as problematic has been discovered in pnpm up to 9.15.x. Affected is an unknown function. Executing a manipulation can lead to untrusted search path. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2024-53866. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in pnpm up to 9.15.x. It has been declared as problematic. This vulnerability affects an unknown functionality. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a untrusted search path vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-426. The product searches for critical resources using an externally-supplied search path that can point to resources that are not under the product's direct control. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

The package manager pnpm prior to version 9.15.0 seems to mishandle overrides and global cache: Overrides from one workspace leak into npm metadata saved in global cache; npm metadata from global cache affects other workspaces; and installs by default don't revalidate the data (including on first lockfile generation). This can make workspace A (even running with `ignore-scripts=true`) posion global cache and execute scripts in workspace B. Users generally expect `ignore-scripts` to be sufficient to prevent immediate code execution on install (e.g. when the tree is just repacked/bundled without executing it). Here, that expectation is broken. Global state integrity is lost via operations that one would expect to be secure, enabling subsequently running arbitrary code execution on installs. Version 9.15.0 fixes the issue. As a work-around, use separate cache and store dirs in each workspace.

The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2024-53866 since 11/22/2024. The exploitation appears to be difficult. The attack can be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is required for a successful exploitation. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available. This vulnerability is assigned to T1574 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.

Upgrading to version 9.15.0 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 11afcddea48f25ed5117a87dc1780a55222b9743 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Name

• pnpm

Version

• 9.0
• 9.1
• 9.2
• 9.3
• 9.4
• 9.5
• 9.6
• 9.7
• 9.8
• 9.9
• 9.10
• 9.11
• 9.12
• 9.13
• 9.14
• 9.15

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/

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