Linux Kernel lesspipe memory leak

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CTI Interest Score
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5.4$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel. This affects an unknown part of the file lesspipe. The manipulation leads to memory leak. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2014-9112. Furthermore, there is an exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel (Operating System) (affected version unknown) and classified as problematic. This issue affects an unknown functionality of the file lesspipe. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

The weakness was shared 11/23/2014 by Michal Zalewski as so, can we do something about lesspipe? (+ a cpio bug to back up the argument) as not defined mailinglist post (oss-sec). It is possible to read the advisory at seclists.org. The vendor was not involved in the public release. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2014-9112. The exploitation is known to be easy. Attacking locally is a requirement. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. Technical details as well as a public exploit are known. The advisory points out:

In short, many Linux distributions ship with the 'less' command automagically interfaced to 'lesspipe'-type scripts, usually invoked via LESSOPEN. This is certainly the case for CentOS and Ubuntu. Unfortunately, many of these scripts appear to call a rather large number of third-party tools that likely have not been designed with malicious inputs in mind. On CentOS, lesspipe appears to include things such as groff + troff + grotty, man, and cpio. On Ubuntu, there's isoinfo (?!), ar from binutils, and so on. Ancient and obscure compression utilities and doc converters crop up, too. Even grabbing something as seemingly innocuous as cpio, a short spin with afl-fuzz (or, probably, anything else) will immediately yield this.

A public exploit has been developed by Michal Zalewski in CPIO Archive and been published immediately after the advisory. The exploit is available at lcamtuf.coredump.cx. It is declared as proof-of-concept. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 82480 (FreeBSD : cpio -- multiple vulnerabilities (72ee9707-d7b2-11e4-8d8e-f8b156b6dcc8)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family FreeBSD Local Security Checks. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 195739 (Ubuntu Security Notification for Cpio Vulnerabilities (USN-2456-1)).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (98918), Tenable (82480) and SecurityFocus (BID 71248†). The entry VDB-68347 is related to this item. If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

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CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.4

VulDB Base Score: 5.9
VulDB Temp Score: 5.4
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory leak
CWE: CWE-401 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Proof-of-Concept
Author: Michal Zalewski
Programming Language: 🔍
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 82480
Nessus Name: FreeBSD : cpio -- multiple vulnerabilities (72ee9707-d7b2-11e4-8d8e-f8b156b6dcc8)
Nessus Family: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: no mitigation known
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍
Exploit Delay Time: 🔍

Timelineinfo

11/23/2014 🔍
11/23/2014 +0 days 🔍
11/23/2014 +0 days 🔍
11/25/2014 +2 days 🔍
11/26/2014 +0 days 🔍
04/01/2015 +125 days 🔍
06/08/2024 +3356 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: so, can we do something about lesspipe? (+ a cpio bug to back up the argument)
Researcher: Michal Zalewski
Status: Not defined
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2014-9112 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2014-9112
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-68279
X-Force: 98918 - Linux Kernel lesspipe code execution, Medium Risk
SecurityFocus: 71248 - Linux Kernel cpio 'list_file()' Function Heap Based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Secunia: 62145

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013
See also: 🔍

Entryinfo

Created: 11/25/2014 09:40
Updated: 06/08/2024 05:52
Changes: 11/25/2014 09:40 (59), 07/06/2017 08:15 (1), 02/27/2022 09:30 (5), 02/27/2022 09:34 (8), 06/08/2024 05:52 (19)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216:541:103

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