Explore top 10 tips to secure your open-source projects now. Read More

×
Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 547
Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 547

Gentoo: GLSA-201709-07 Normal: Kpathsea User-Assisted Code Execution

gentoo
Calendar Grey September 17, 2017
Dist Gentoo Esm H88
Unauthorized code execution vulnerability via Kpathsea on Gentoo Linux. Refer to the advisory for mitigation instructions.
A vulnerability in Kpathsea allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands by manipulating the -tex option from mpost program.

Summary

It was discovered that the mpost program from the shell_escape_commands list is capable of executing arbitrary external programs during the conversion of .tex files. The responsible function is runpopen() (texmfmp.c).

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory gentoo arbitrary code execution user-assisted attack kpathsea

Resolution

All Kpathsea users should upgrade to the latest version: # emerge --sync # emerge --ask --oneshot -v ">=dev-libs/kpathsea-6.2.2_p20160523"
Packages which depend on this library may need to be recompiled. Tools such as revdep-rebuild may assist in identifying some of these packages.

References

[ 1 ] CVE-2016-10243 https://nvd.nist.gov/nvd.cfm?cvename=CVE-2016-10243

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201709-07
style>.gentoo_availability{display:block;}

Concerns

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the confidentiality and security of our users' machines is of utmost importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at https://bugs.gentoo.org.

Severity: Normal
Title: Kpathsea: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code
Date: September 17, 2017
Bugs: #612328
ID: 201709-07

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory gentoo arbitrary code execution user-assisted attack kpathsea

Synopsis

A vulnerability in Kpathsea allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands by manipulating the -tex option from mpost program.

Background

Kpathsea is a library to do path searching. It is used by TeX Live and others TeX related software.

Get the latest News and Insights

Get the latest Linux and open source security news straight to your inbox.

Affected Packages

------------------------------------------------------------------- Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 dev-libs/kpathsea < 6.2.2_p20160523 >= 6.2.2_p20160523

Impact

===== A remote attacker, by enticing a user to open a specially crafted .tex file, could possibly execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the process.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.