Vulnerabilities > CVE-2008-4191 - Link Following vulnerability in Emacspeak INC Emacspeak 26.0/28.0

047910
CVSS 0.0 - NONE
Attack vector
UNKNOWN
Attack complexity
UNKNOWN
Privileges required
UNKNOWN
Confidentiality impact
UNKNOWN
Integrity impact
UNKNOWN
Availability impact
UNKNOWN
emacspeak-inc
CWE-59
nessus
NVD
Published: 2008-09-24
Updated: 2024-11-21

Summary

extract-table.pl in Emacspeak 26 and 28 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the extract-table.csv temporary file.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Emacspeak_Inc
2

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Symlink Attack
    An attacker positions a symbolic link in such a manner that the targeted user or application accesses the link's endpoint, assuming that it is accessing a file with the link's name. The endpoint file may be either output or input. If the file is output, the result is that the endpoint is modified, instead of a file at the intended location. Modifications to the endpoint file may include appending, overwriting, corrupting, changing permissions, or other modifications. In some variants of this attack the attacker may be able to control the change to a file while in other cases they cannot. The former is especially damaging since the attacker may be able to grant themselves increased privileges or insert false information, but the latter can also be damaging as it can expose sensitive information or corrupt or destroy vital system or application files. Alternatively, the endpoint file may serve as input to the targeted application. This can be used to feed malformed input into the target or to cause the target to process different information, possibly allowing the attacker to control the actions of the target or to cause the target to expose information to the attacker. Moreover, the actions taken on the endpoint file are undertaken with the permissions of the targeted user or application, which may exceed the permissions that the attacker would normally have.
  • Accessing, Modifying or Executing Executable Files
    An attack of this type exploits a system's configuration that allows an attacker to either directly access an executable file, for example through shell access; or in a possible worst case allows an attacker to upload a file and then execute it. Web servers, ftp servers, and message oriented middleware systems which have many integration points are particularly vulnerable, because both the programmers and the administrators must be in synch regarding the interfaces and the correct privileges for each interface.
  • Leverage Executable Code in Non-Executable Files
    An attack of this type exploits a system's trust in configuration and resource files, when the executable loads the resource (such as an image file or configuration file) the attacker has modified the file to either execute malicious code directly or manipulate the target process (e.g. application server) to execute based on the malicious configuration parameters. Since systems are increasingly interrelated mashing up resources from local and remote sources the possibility of this attack occurring is high. The attack can be directed at a client system, such as causing buffer overrun through loading seemingly benign image files, as in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028 where specially crafted JPEG files could cause a buffer overrun once loaded into the browser. Another example targets clients reading pdf files. In this case the attacker simply appends javascript to the end of a legitimate url for a pdf (http://www.gnucitizen.org/blog/danger-danger-danger/) http://path/to/pdf/file.pdf#whatever_name_you_want=javascript:your_code_here The client assumes that they are reading a pdf, but the attacker has modified the resource and loaded executable javascript into the client's browser process. The attack can also target server processes. The attacker edits the resource or configuration file, for example a web.xml file used to configure security permissions for a J2EE app server, adding role name "public" grants all users with the public role the ability to use the administration functionality. The server trusts its configuration file to be correct, but when they are manipulated, the attacker gains full control.
  • Manipulating Input to File System Calls
    An attacker manipulates inputs to the target software which the target software passes to file system calls in the OS. The goal is to gain access to, and perhaps modify, areas of the file system that the target software did not intend to be accessible.

Nessus

  • NASL familyFedora Local Security Checks
    NASL idFEDORA_2008-8423.NASL
    description - Fri Sep 26 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com> - 28.0-3 - (CVE-2008-4191) fix tmpfile vulnerability in extract-table.pl with emacspeak-28.0-tmpfile.patch from upstream svn (#463819) - Fri Sep 26 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com> - 28.0-2 - fix broken generated deps reported by mtasaka (#463899) - script the replacement of tcl with tclsh to fix missing dtk-soft - replace python2.4 with python in HTTPSpeaker.py - Thu Sep 25 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com> - 28.0-1 - update to 28.0 with emacspeak-28.0-no-httpd.patch - replace emacspeak-tcl-pkgreq-tclx.patch with sed - emacspeak-no-linux-espeak.patch no longer needed - update emacspeak-15.0-fixpref.patch for patch fuzz Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id34314
    published2008-10-01
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2008-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/34314
    titleFedora 8 : emacspeak-28.0-3.fc8 (2008-8423)
    code
    #%NASL_MIN_LEVEL 80502
#
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#
# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were  
# extracted from Fedora Security Advisory 2008-8423.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(34314);
  script_version ("1.15");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/08/02 13:32:28");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2008-4191");
  script_bugtraq_id(31241);
  script_xref(name:"FEDORA", value:"2008-8423");

  script_name(english:"Fedora 8 : emacspeak-28.0-3.fc8 (2008-8423)");
  script_summary(english:"Checks rpm output for the updated package.");

  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"synopsis", 
    value:"The remote Fedora host is missing a security update."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"description", 
    value:
"  - Fri Sep 26 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com> -
    28.0-3

    - (CVE-2008-4191) fix tmpfile vulnerability in
      extract-table.pl with emacspeak-28.0-tmpfile.patch
      from upstream svn (#463819)

  - Fri Sep 26 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com> -
    28.0-2

    - fix broken generated deps reported by mtasaka
      (#463899)

    - script the replacement of tcl with tclsh to fix
      missing dtk-soft

    - replace python2.4 with python in HTTPSpeaker.py

    - Thu Sep 25 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com>
      - 28.0-1

    - update to 28.0 with emacspeak-28.0-no-httpd.patch

    - replace emacspeak-tcl-pkgreq-tclx.patch with sed

    - emacspeak-no-linux-espeak.patch no longer needed

    - update emacspeak-15.0-fixpref.patch for patch fuzz

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding
description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable
has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible
without introducing additional issues."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=463819"
  );
  # https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2008-October/014952.html
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"http://www.nessus.org/u?3d5eb3c6"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"solution", 
    value:"Update the affected emacspeak package."
  );
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:C/A:C");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"false");
  script_cwe_id(59);

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:fedoraproject:fedora:emacspeak");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:8");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2008/10/01");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2008/10/01");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2008-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");
  script_family(english:"Fedora Local Security Checks");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/RedHat/release", "Host/RedHat/rpm-list");

  exit(0);
}


include("audit.inc");
include("global_settings.inc");
include("rpm.inc");

if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
release = get_kb_item("Host/RedHat/release");
if (isnull(release) || "Fedora" >!< release) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Fedora");
os_ver = eregmatch(pattern: "Fedora.*release ([0-9]+)", string:release);
if (isnull(os_ver)) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_APP_VER, "Fedora");
os_ver = os_ver[1];
if (! ereg(pattern:"^8([^0-9]|$)", string:os_ver)) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Fedora 8.x", "Fedora " + os_ver);

if (!get_kb_item("Host/RedHat/rpm-list")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);

cpu = get_kb_item("Host/cpu");
if (isnull(cpu)) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_ARCH);
if ("x86_64" >!< cpu && cpu !~ "^i[3-6]86$") audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, "Fedora", cpu);

flag = 0;
if (rpm_check(release:"FC8", reference:"emacspeak-28.0-3.fc8")) flag++;


if (flag)
{
  if (report_verbosity > 0) security_warning(port:0, extra:rpm_report_get());
  else security_warning(0);
  exit(0);
}
else
{
  tested = pkg_tests_get();
  if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested);
  else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "emacspeak");
}
  • NASL familyFedora Local Security Checks
    NASL idFEDORA_2008-8379.NASL
    description - Fri Sep 26 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com> - 28.0-3 - (CVE-2008-4191) fix tmpfile vulnerability in extract-table.pl with emacspeak-28.0-tmpfile.patch from upstream svn (#463820) - Fri Sep 26 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com> - 28.0-2 - fix broken generated deps reported by mtasaka (#463899) - script the replacement of tcl with tclsh to fix missing dtk-soft - replace python2.4 with python in HTTPSpeaker.py - Thu Sep 25 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com> - 28.0-1 - update to 28.0 with emacspeak-28.0-no-httpd.patch - replace emacspeak-tcl-pkgreq-tclx.patch with sed - emacspeak-no-linux-espeak.patch no longer needed - update emacspeak-15.0-fixpref.patch for patch fuzz Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id34313
    published2008-10-01
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2008-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/34313
    titleFedora 9 : emacspeak-28.0-3.fc9 (2008-8379)
    code
    #%NASL_MIN_LEVEL 80502
#
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#
# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were  
# extracted from Fedora Security Advisory 2008-8379.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(34313);
  script_version ("1.15");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/08/02 13:32:28");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2008-4191");
  script_bugtraq_id(31241);
  script_xref(name:"FEDORA", value:"2008-8379");

  script_name(english:"Fedora 9 : emacspeak-28.0-3.fc9 (2008-8379)");
  script_summary(english:"Checks rpm output for the updated package.");

  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"synopsis", 
    value:"The remote Fedora host is missing a security update."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"description", 
    value:
"  - Fri Sep 26 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com> -
    28.0-3

    - (CVE-2008-4191) fix tmpfile vulnerability in
      extract-table.pl with emacspeak-28.0-tmpfile.patch
      from upstream svn (#463820)

  - Fri Sep 26 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com> -
    28.0-2

    - fix broken generated deps reported by mtasaka
      (#463899)

    - script the replacement of tcl with tclsh to fix
      missing dtk-soft

    - replace python2.4 with python in HTTPSpeaker.py

    - Thu Sep 25 2008 Jens Petersen <petersen at redhat.com>
      - 28.0-1

    - update to 28.0 with emacspeak-28.0-no-httpd.patch

    - replace emacspeak-tcl-pkgreq-tclx.patch with sed

    - emacspeak-no-linux-espeak.patch no longer needed

    - update emacspeak-15.0-fixpref.patch for patch fuzz

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding
description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable
has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible
without introducing additional issues."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=463820"
  );
  # https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2008-October/014950.html
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"http://www.nessus.org/u?62989539"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"solution", 
    value:"Update the affected emacspeak package."
  );
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:C/A:C");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"false");
  script_cwe_id(59);

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:fedoraproject:fedora:emacspeak");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:9");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2008/10/01");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2008/10/01");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2008-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");
  script_family(english:"Fedora Local Security Checks");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/RedHat/release", "Host/RedHat/rpm-list");

  exit(0);
}


include("audit.inc");
include("global_settings.inc");
include("rpm.inc");

if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
release = get_kb_item("Host/RedHat/release");
if (isnull(release) || "Fedora" >!< release) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Fedora");
os_ver = eregmatch(pattern: "Fedora.*release ([0-9]+)", string:release);
if (isnull(os_ver)) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_APP_VER, "Fedora");
os_ver = os_ver[1];
if (! ereg(pattern:"^9([^0-9]|$)", string:os_ver)) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Fedora 9.x", "Fedora " + os_ver);

if (!get_kb_item("Host/RedHat/rpm-list")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);

cpu = get_kb_item("Host/cpu");
if (isnull(cpu)) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_ARCH);
if ("x86_64" >!< cpu && cpu !~ "^i[3-6]86$") audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, "Fedora", cpu);

flag = 0;
if (rpm_check(release:"FC9", reference:"emacspeak-28.0-3.fc9")) flag++;


if (flag)
{
  if (report_verbosity > 0) security_warning(port:0, extra:rpm_report_get());
  else security_warning(0);
  exit(0);
}
else
{
  tested = pkg_tests_get();
  if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested);
  else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "emacspeak");
}

Statements

contributorJoshua Bressers
lastmodified2008-10-17
organizationRed Hat
statementRed Hat is aware of this issue and is tracking it via the following bug: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=460435 The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this issue as having low security impact, a future update may address this flaw. More information regarding issue severity can be found here: http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/

References