Vulnerabilities > CVE-2010-0825 - Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls vulnerability in GNU Emacs

047910
CVSS 4.4 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
LOCAL
Attack complexity
MEDIUM
Privileges required
NONE
Confidentiality impact
PARTIAL
Integrity impact
PARTIAL
Availability impact
PARTIAL
local
gnu
CWE-264
nessus

Summary

lib-src/movemail.c in movemail in emacs 22 and 23 allows local users to read, modify, or delete arbitrary mailbox files via a symlink attack, related to improper file-permission checks.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Gnu
4

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • 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.
  • Blue Boxing
    This type of attack against older telephone switches and trunks has been around for decades. A tone is sent by an adversary to impersonate a supervisor signal which has the effect of rerouting or usurping command of the line. While the US infrastructure proper may not contain widespread vulnerabilities to this type of attack, many companies are connected globally through call centers and business process outsourcing. These international systems may be operated in countries which have not upgraded Telco infrastructure and so are vulnerable to Blue boxing. Blue boxing is a result of failure on the part of the system to enforce strong authorization for administrative functions. While the infrastructure is different than standard current applications like web applications, there are historical lessons to be learned to upgrade the access control for administrative functions.
  • Restful Privilege Elevation
    Rest uses standard HTTP (Get, Put, Delete) style permissions methods, but these are not necessarily correlated generally with back end programs. Strict interpretation of HTTP get methods means that these HTTP Get services should not be used to delete information on the server, but there is no access control mechanism to back up this logic. This means that unless the services are properly ACL'd and the application's service implementation are following these guidelines then an HTTP request can easily execute a delete or update on the server side. The attacker identifies a HTTP Get URL such as http://victimsite/updateOrder, which calls out to a program to update orders on a database or other resource. The URL is not idempotent so the request can be submitted multiple times by the attacker, additionally, the attacker may be able to exploit the URL published as a Get method that actually performs updates (instead of merely retrieving data). This may result in malicious or inadvertent altering of data on the server.
  • Target Programs with Elevated Privileges
    This attack targets programs running with elevated privileges. The attacker would try to leverage a bug in the running program and get arbitrary code to execute with elevated privileges. For instance an attacker would look for programs that write to the system directories or registry keys (such as HKLM, which stores a number of critical Windows environment variables). These programs are typically running with elevated privileges and have usually not been designed with security in mind. Such programs are excellent exploit targets because they yield lots of power when they break. The malicious user try to execute its code at the same level as a privileged system call.

Nessus

  • NASL familyUbuntu Local Security Checks
    NASL idUBUNTU_USN-919-1.NASL
    descriptionDan Rosenberg discovered that the email helper in Emacs did not correctly check file permissions. A local attacker could perform a symlink race to read or append to another user
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id45377
    published2010-03-30
    reporterUbuntu Security Notice (C) 2010-2019 Canonical, Inc. / NASL script (C) 2010-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/45377
    titleUbuntu 8.04 LTS / 8.10 / 9.04 / 9.10 : emacs22, emacs23 vulnerability (USN-919-1)
    code
    #
    # (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    #
    # The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were
    # extracted from Ubuntu Security Notice USN-919-1. The text 
    # itself is copyright (C) Canonical, Inc. See 
    # <http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/>. Ubuntu(R) is a registered 
    # trademark of Canonical, Inc.
    #
    
    include("compat.inc");
    
    if (description)
    {
      script_id(45377);
      script_version("1.12");
      script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/09/19 12:54:26");
    
      script_cve_id("CVE-2010-0825");
      script_xref(name:"USN", value:"919-1");
    
      script_name(english:"Ubuntu 8.04 LTS / 8.10 / 9.04 / 9.10 : emacs22, emacs23 vulnerability (USN-919-1)");
      script_summary(english:"Checks dpkg output for updated packages.");
    
      script_set_attribute(
        attribute:"synopsis", 
        value:
    "The remote Ubuntu host is missing one or more security-related
    patches."
      );
      script_set_attribute(
        attribute:"description", 
        value:
    "Dan Rosenberg discovered that the email helper in Emacs did not
    correctly check file permissions. A local attacker could perform a
    symlink race to read or append to another user's mailbox if it was
    stored under a group-writable group-'mail' directory.
    
    Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding
    description block directly from the Ubuntu 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://usn.ubuntu.com/919-1/"
      );
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:"Update the affected packages.");
      script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P");
    
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs22");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs22-bin-common");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs22-common");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs22-el");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs22-gtk");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs22-nox");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs23");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs23-bin-common");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs23-common");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs23-el");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs23-lucid");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:emacs23-nox");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:8.04:-:lts");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:8.10");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:9.04");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:9.10");
    
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2010/04/05");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2010/03/29");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2010/03/30");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current");
      script_end_attributes();
    
      script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
      script_copyright(english:"Ubuntu Security Notice (C) 2010-2019 Canonical, Inc. / NASL script (C) 2010-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");
      script_family(english:"Ubuntu Local Security Checks");
    
      script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
      script_require_keys("Host/cpu", "Host/Ubuntu", "Host/Ubuntu/release", "Host/Debian/dpkg-l");
    
      exit(0);
    }
    
    
    include("audit.inc");
    include("ubuntu.inc");
    include("misc_func.inc");
    
    if ( ! get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled") ) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
    release = get_kb_item("Host/Ubuntu/release");
    if ( isnull(release) ) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Ubuntu");
    release = chomp(release);
    if (! preg(pattern:"^(8\.04|8\.10|9\.04|9\.10)$", string:release)) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Ubuntu 8.04 / 8.10 / 9.04 / 9.10", "Ubuntu " + release);
    if ( ! get_kb_item("Host/Debian/dpkg-l") ) 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, "Ubuntu", cpu);
    
    flag = 0;
    
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.04", pkgname:"emacs", pkgver:"22.1-0ubuntu10.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.04", pkgname:"emacs22", pkgver:"22.1-0ubuntu10.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.04", pkgname:"emacs22-bin-common", pkgver:"22.1-0ubuntu10.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.04", pkgname:"emacs22-common", pkgver:"22.1-0ubuntu10.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.04", pkgname:"emacs22-el", pkgver:"22.1-0ubuntu10.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.04", pkgname:"emacs22-gtk", pkgver:"22.1-0ubuntu10.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.04", pkgname:"emacs22-nox", pkgver:"22.1-0ubuntu10.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.10", pkgname:"emacs", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.8.10.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.10", pkgname:"emacs22", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.8.10.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.10", pkgname:"emacs22-bin-common", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.8.10.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.10", pkgname:"emacs22-common", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.8.10.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.10", pkgname:"emacs22-el", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.8.10.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.10", pkgname:"emacs22-gtk", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.8.10.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"8.10", pkgname:"emacs22-nox", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.8.10.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.04", pkgname:"emacs", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.9.04.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.04", pkgname:"emacs22", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.9.04.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.04", pkgname:"emacs22-bin-common", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.9.04.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.04", pkgname:"emacs22-common", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.9.04.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.04", pkgname:"emacs22-el", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.9.04.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.04", pkgname:"emacs22-gtk", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.9.04.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.04", pkgname:"emacs22-nox", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu2.9.04.1")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs", pkgver:"23.1+1-4ubuntu2+22.2+0ubuntu6.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs22", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu6.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs22-bin-common", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu6.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs22-common", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu6.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs22-el", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu6.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs22-gtk", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu6.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs22-nox", pkgver:"22.2-0ubuntu6.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs23", pkgver:"23.1+1-4ubuntu3.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs23-bin-common", pkgver:"23.1+1-4ubuntu3.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs23-common", pkgver:"23.1+1-4ubuntu3.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs23-el", pkgver:"23.1+1-4ubuntu3.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs23-lucid", pkgver:"23.1+1-4ubuntu3.2")) flag++;
    if (ubuntu_check(osver:"9.10", pkgname:"emacs23-nox", pkgver:"23.1+1-4ubuntu3.2")) flag++;
    
    if (flag)
    {
      security_report_v4(
        port       : 0,
        severity   : SECURITY_WARNING,
        extra      : ubuntu_report_get()
      );
      exit(0);
    }
    else
    {
      tested = ubuntu_pkg_tests_get();
      if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested);
      else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "emacs / emacs22 / emacs22-bin-common / emacs22-common / emacs22-el / etc");
    }
    
  • NASL familyFreeBSD Local Security Checks
    NASL idFREEBSD_PKG_F6B6BEAA4E0E11DF83FB0015587E2CC1.NASL
    descriptionThe following package needs to be updated: emacs
    last seen2016-09-26
    modified2011-10-03
    plugin id45616
    published2010-04-26
    reporterTenable
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/index.php?view=single&id=45616
    titleFreeBSD : emacs -- movemail symlink race condition (5253)
  • NASL familyMandriva Local Security Checks
    NASL idMANDRIVA_MDVSA-2010-083.NASL
    descriptionA vulnerability has been found and corrected in emacs : lib-src/movemail.c in movemail in emacs 22 and 23 allows local users to read, modify, or delete arbitrary mailbox files via a symlink attack, related to improper file-permission checks (CVE-2010-0825). Packages for 2008.0 and 2009.0 are provided due to the Extended Maintenance Program for those products. The updated packages have been patched to correct this issue.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id45588
    published2010-04-21
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2010-2019 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/45588
    titleMandriva Linux Security Advisory : emacs (MDVSA-2010:083)

Statements

contributorJoshua Bressers
lastmodified2010-04-06
organizationRed Hat
statementNot vulnerable. This issues does not affect the versions of emacs or xemacs as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The movemail utility in Red Hat Enterprise Linux does not have the setgid bit set, which is required for this flaw to be exploitable.