Vulnerabilities > CVE-2012-4463 - Improper Input Validation vulnerability in Midnight-Commander Midnight Commander 4.8.5

047910
CVSS 5.1 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
HIGH
Privileges required
NONE
Confidentiality impact
PARTIAL
Integrity impact
PARTIAL
Availability impact
PARTIAL
network
high complexity
midnight-commander
CWE-20
nessus

Summary

Midnight Commander (mc) 4.8.5 does not properly handle the (1) MC_EXT_SELECTED or (2) MC_EXT_ONLYTAGGED environment variables when multiple files are selected, which allows user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted file name.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Midnight-Commander
1

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables
    This attack pattern involves causing a buffer overflow through manipulation of environment variables. Once the attacker finds that they can modify an environment variable, they may try to overflow associated buffers. This attack leverages implicit trust often placed in environment variables.
  • Server Side Include (SSI) Injection
    An attacker can use Server Side Include (SSI) Injection to send code to a web application that then gets executed by the web server. Doing so enables the attacker to achieve similar results to Cross Site Scripting, viz., arbitrary code execution and information disclosure, albeit on a more limited scale, since the SSI directives are nowhere near as powerful as a full-fledged scripting language. Nonetheless, the attacker can conveniently gain access to sensitive files, such as password files, and execute shell commands.
  • Cross Zone Scripting
    An attacker is able to cause a victim to load content into their web-browser that bypasses security zone controls and gain access to increased privileges to execute scripting code or other web objects such as unsigned ActiveX controls or applets. This is a privilege elevation attack targeted at zone-based web-browser security. In a zone-based model, pages belong to one of a set of zones corresponding to the level of privilege assigned to that page. Pages in an untrusted zone would have a lesser level of access to the system and/or be restricted in the types of executable content it was allowed to invoke. In a cross-zone scripting attack, a page that should be assigned to a less privileged zone is granted the privileges of a more trusted zone. This can be accomplished by exploiting bugs in the browser, exploiting incorrect configuration in the zone controls, through a cross-site scripting attack that causes the attackers' content to be treated as coming from a more trusted page, or by leveraging some piece of system functionality that is accessible from both the trusted and less trusted zone. This attack differs from "Restful Privilege Escalation" in that the latter correlates to the inadequate securing of RESTful access methods (such as HTTP DELETE) on the server, while cross-zone scripting attacks the concept of security zones as implemented by a browser.
  • Cross Site Scripting through Log Files
    An attacker may leverage a system weakness where logs are susceptible to log injection to insert scripts into the system's logs. If these logs are later viewed by an administrator through a thin administrative interface and the log data is not properly HTML encoded before being written to the page, the attackers' scripts stored in the log will be executed in the administrative interface with potentially serious consequences. This attack pattern is really a combination of two other attack patterns: log injection and stored cross site scripting.
  • Command Line Execution through SQL Injection
    An attacker uses standard SQL injection methods to inject data into the command line for execution. This could be done directly through misuse of directives such as MSSQL_xp_cmdshell or indirectly through injection of data into the database that would be interpreted as shell commands. Sometime later, an unscrupulous backend application (or could be part of the functionality of the same application) fetches the injected data stored in the database and uses this data as command line arguments without performing proper validation. The malicious data escapes that data plane by spawning new commands to be executed on the host.

Nessus

  • NASL familyGentoo Local Security Checks
    NASL idGENTOO_GLSA-201402-18.NASL
    descriptionThe remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-201402-18 (GNU Midnight Commander: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code) GNU Midnight Commander does not properly sanitize environment variables. Impact : A remote attacker could entice a user to open a specially crafted archive file using GNU Midnight Commander, possibly resulting in execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the process or a Denial of Service condition. Workaround : There is no known workaround at this time.
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id72613
    published2014-02-21
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2014-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/72613
    titleGLSA-201402-18 : GNU Midnight Commander: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code
    code
    #
    # (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    #
    # The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were
    # extracted from Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 201402-18.
    #
    # The advisory text is Copyright (C) 2001-2015 Gentoo Foundation, Inc.
    # and licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike 
    # license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
    #
    
    include("compat.inc");
    
    if (description)
    {
      script_id(72613);
      script_version("1.5");
      script_cvs_date("Date: 2018/07/12 19:01:15");
    
      script_cve_id("CVE-2012-4463");
      script_bugtraq_id(55777);
      script_xref(name:"GLSA", value:"201402-18");
    
      script_name(english:"GLSA-201402-18 : GNU Midnight Commander: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code");
      script_summary(english:"Checks for updated package(s) in /var/db/pkg");
    
      script_set_attribute(
        attribute:"synopsis", 
        value:
    "The remote Gentoo host is missing one or more security-related
    patches."
      );
      script_set_attribute(
        attribute:"description", 
        value:
    "The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-201402-18
    (GNU Midnight Commander: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code)
    
        GNU Midnight Commander does not properly sanitize environment variables.
      
    Impact :
    
        A remote attacker could entice a user to open a specially crafted
          archive file using GNU Midnight Commander, possibly resulting in
          execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the process or a
          Denial of Service condition.
      
    Workaround :
    
        There is no known workaround at this time."
      );
      script_set_attribute(
        attribute:"see_also",
        value:"https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201402-18"
      );
      script_set_attribute(
        attribute:"solution", 
        value:
    "All GNU Midnight Commander users should upgrade to the latest version:
          # emerge --sync
          # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose '>=app-misc/mc-4.8.7'"
      );
      script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P");
      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_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:gentoo:linux:mc");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:gentoo:linux");
    
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2014/02/20");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2014/02/21");
      script_end_attributes();
    
      script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
      script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2014-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc.");
      script_family(english:"Gentoo Local Security Checks");
    
      script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
      script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/Gentoo/release", "Host/Gentoo/qpkg-list");
    
      exit(0);
    }
    
    
    include("audit.inc");
    include("global_settings.inc");
    include("qpkg.inc");
    
    if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
    if (!get_kb_item("Host/Gentoo/release")) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Gentoo");
    if (!get_kb_item("Host/Gentoo/qpkg-list")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);
    
    
    flag = 0;
    
    if (qpkg_check(package:"app-misc/mc", unaffected:make_list("ge 4.8.7"), vulnerable:make_list("lt 4.8.7"))) flag++;
    
    if (flag)
    {
      if (report_verbosity > 0) security_warning(port:0, extra:qpkg_report_get());
      else security_warning(0);
      exit(0);
    }
    else
    {
      tested = qpkg_tests_get();
      if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested);
      else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "GNU Midnight Commander");
    }
    
  • NASL familyFedora Local Security Checks
    NASL idFEDORA_2012-19349.NASL
    descriptionsanitize of MC_EXT_SELECTED variable when viewing multiple files, CVE-2012-4463 (#862814) https://www.midnight-commander.org/ticket/2913 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 seen2020-03-17
    modified2012-12-07
    plugin id63180
    published2012-12-07
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2012-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/63180
    titleFedora 17 : mc-4.8.6-2.fc17 (2012-19349)
    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 2012-19349.
    #
    
    include("compat.inc");
    
    if (description)
    {
      script_id(63180);
      script_version("1.10");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_modification_date", value:"2020/03/12");
    
      script_cve_id("CVE-2012-4463");
      script_bugtraq_id(55777);
      script_xref(name:"FEDORA", value:"2012-19349");
    
      script_name(english:"Fedora 17 : mc-4.8.6-2.fc17 (2012-19349)");
      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:
    "sanitize of MC_EXT_SELECTED variable when viewing multiple files,
    CVE-2012-4463 (#862814) https://www.midnight-commander.org/ticket/2913
    
    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=862813"
      );
      # https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2012-December/094038.html
      script_set_attribute(
        attribute:"see_also",
        value:"http://www.nessus.org/u?ee868abf"
      );
      # https://www.midnight-commander.org/ticket/2913
      script_set_attribute(
        attribute:"see_also",
        value:"https://midnight-commander.org/ticket/2913"
      );
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:"Update the affected mc package.");
      script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P");
      script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:ND/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_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:fedoraproject:fedora:mc");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:17");
    
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2012/11/29");
      script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2012/12/07");
      script_end_attributes();
    
      script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
      script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2012-2020 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:"^17([^0-9]|$)", string:os_ver)) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Fedora 17.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:"FC17", reference:"mc-4.8.6-2.fc17")) 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, "mc");
    }
    
  • NASL familyFedora Local Security Checks
    NASL idFEDORA_2012-19335.NASL
    descriptionsanitize of MC_EXT_SELECTED variable when viewing multiple files, CVE-2012-4463 (#862814) https://www.midnight-commander.org/ticket/2913 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 seen2020-03-17
    modified2012-12-04
    plugin id63143
    published2012-12-04
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2012-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/63143
    titleFedora 18 : mc-4.8.6-2.fc18 (2012-19335)