Vulnerabilities > CVE-2016-5759 - Improper Input Validation vulnerability in multiple products

047910
CVSS 7.8 - HIGH
Attack vector
LOCAL
Attack complexity
LOW
Privileges required
LOW
Confidentiality impact
HIGH
Integrity impact
HIGH
Availability impact
HIGH
local
low complexity
novell
opensuse
CWE-20
nessus
NVD
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2023-11-07

Summary

The mkdumprd script called "dracut" in the current working directory "." allows local users to trick the administrator into executing code as root.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
OS
Novell
2
OS
Opensuse
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 familySuSE Local Security Checks
    NASL idOPENSUSE-2016-1215.NASL
    descriptionThis update for kdump provides several fixes and enhancements : - Refresh kdumprd if /etc/hosts or /etc/nsswitch.conf is changed. (bsc#943214) - Add a separate systemd service to rebuild kdumprd at boot. (bsc#943214) - Improve network setup in the kdump environment by reading configuration from wicked by default (system configuration files are used as a fallback). (bsc#980328) - Use the last mount entry in kdump_get_mountpoints(). (bsc#951844) - Remove
    last seen2020-06-05
    modified2016-10-25
    plugin id94240
    published2016-10-25
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2016-2020 Tenable Network Security, Inc.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/94240
    titleopenSUSE Security Update : kdump (openSUSE-2016-1215)
    code
    #%NASL_MIN_LEVEL 80502
#
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#
# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were
# extracted from openSUSE Security Update openSUSE-2016-1215.
#
# The text description of this plugin is (C) SUSE LLC.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(94240);
  script_version("1.4");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_modification_date", value:"2020/06/04");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2016-5759");

  script_name(english:"openSUSE Security Update : kdump (openSUSE-2016-1215)");
  script_summary(english:"Check for the openSUSE-2016-1215 patch");

  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"synopsis", 
    value:"The remote openSUSE host is missing a security update."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"description", 
    value:
"This update for kdump provides several fixes and enhancements :

  - Refresh kdumprd if /etc/hosts or /etc/nsswitch.conf is
    changed. (bsc#943214)

  - Add a separate systemd service to rebuild kdumprd at
    boot. (bsc#943214)

  - Improve network setup in the kdump environment by
    reading configuration from wicked by default (system
    configuration files are used as a fallback).
    (bsc#980328)

  - Use the last mount entry in kdump_get_mountpoints().
    (bsc#951844)

  - Remove 'notsc' from the kdump kernel command line.
    (bsc#973213)

  - Handle dump files with many program headers.
    (bsc#932339, bsc#970708)

  - Fall back to stat() if file type is DT_UNKNOWN.
    (bsc#964206)

  - Remove vm. sysctls from kdump initrd. (bsc#927451,
    bsc#987862)

  - Use the exit code of kexec, not that of 'local'.
    (bsc#984799)

  - Convert sysroot to a bind mount in kdump initrd.
    (bsc#976864)

  - Distinguish between Xenlinux (aka Xenified or SUSE) and
    pvops Xen kernels, as the latter can run on bare metal.
    (bsc#974270)

  - CVE-2016-5759: Use full path to dracut as argument to
    bash. (bsc#989972, bsc#990200)

This update was imported from the SUSE:SLE-12-SP1:Update update
project."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=927451"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=932339"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=943214"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=951844"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=964206"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=970708"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=973213"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=974270"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=976864"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=980328"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=984799"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=987862"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=989972"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=990200"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"solution", 
    value:"Update the affected kdump packages."
  );
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:opensuse:kdump");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:opensuse:kdump-debuginfo");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:opensuse:kdump-debugsource");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:novell:opensuse:42.1");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2016/10/24");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2016/10/25");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2016-2020 Tenable Network Security, Inc.");
  script_family(english:"SuSE Local Security Checks");

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

  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/SuSE/release");
if (isnull(release) || release =~ "^(SLED|SLES)") audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "openSUSE");
if (release !~ "^(SUSE42\.1)$") audit(AUDIT_OS_RELEASE_NOT, "openSUSE", "42.1", release);
if (!get_kb_item("Host/SuSE/rpm-list")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);

ourarch = get_kb_item("Host/cpu");
if (!ourarch) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_ARCH);
if (ourarch !~ "^(i586|i686|x86_64)$") audit(AUDIT_ARCH_NOT, "i586 / i686 / x86_64", ourarch);

flag = 0;

if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE42.1", reference:"kdump-0.8.15-27.1") ) flag++;
if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE42.1", reference:"kdump-debuginfo-0.8.15-27.1") ) flag++;
if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE42.1", reference:"kdump-debugsource-0.8.15-27.1") ) 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, "kdump / kdump-debuginfo / kdump-debugsource");
}
  • NASL familySuSE Local Security Checks
    NASL idSUSE_SU-2016-2553-1.NASL
    descriptionThis update for kdump provides several fixes and enhancements : - Refresh kdumprd if /etc/hosts or /etc/nsswitch.conf is changed. (bsc#943214) - Add a separate systemd service to rebuild kdumprd at boot. (bsc#943214) - Improve network setup in the kdump environment by reading configuration from wicked by default (system configuration files are used as a fallback). (bsc#980328) - Use the last mount entry in kdump_get_mountpoints(). (bsc#951844) - Remove
    last seen2020-06-01
    modified2020-06-02
    plugin id94271
    published2016-10-26
    reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2016-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
    sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/94271
    titleSUSE SLED12 / SLES12 Security Update : kdump (SUSE-SU-2016:2553-1)
    code
    #
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#
# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were
# extracted from SUSE update advisory SUSE-SU-2016:2553-1.
# The text itself is copyright (C) SUSE.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(94271);
  script_version("1.9");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/09/11 11:22:14");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2016-5759");

  script_name(english:"SUSE SLED12 / SLES12 Security Update : kdump (SUSE-SU-2016:2553-1)");
  script_summary(english:"Checks rpm output for the updated packages.");

  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"synopsis", 
    value:"The remote SUSE host is missing one or more security updates."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"description", 
    value:
"This update for kdump provides several fixes and enhancements :

  - Refresh kdumprd if /etc/hosts or /etc/nsswitch.conf is
    changed. (bsc#943214)

  - Add a separate systemd service to rebuild kdumprd at
    boot. (bsc#943214)

  - Improve network setup in the kdump environment by
    reading configuration from wicked by default (system
    configuration files are used as a fallback).
    (bsc#980328)

  - Use the last mount entry in kdump_get_mountpoints().
    (bsc#951844)

  - Remove 'notsc' from the kdump kernel command line.
    (bsc#973213)

  - Handle dump files with many program headers.
    (bsc#932339, bsc#970708)

  - Fall back to stat() if file type is DT_UNKNOWN.
    (bsc#964206)

  - Remove vm. sysctls from kdump initrd. (bsc#927451,
    bsc#987862)

  - Use the exit code of kexec, not that of 'local'.
    (bsc#984799)

  - Convert sysroot to a bind mount in kdump initrd.
    (bsc#976864)

  - Distinguish between Xenlinux (aka Xenified or SUSE) and
    pvops Xen kernels, as the latter can run on bare metal.
    (bsc#974270)

  - CVE-2016-5759: Use full path to dracut as argument to
    bash. (bsc#989972, bsc#990200)

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding
description block directly from the SUSE 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.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=927451"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=932339"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=943214"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=951844"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=964206"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=970708"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=973213"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=974270"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=976864"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=980328"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=984799"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=987862"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=989972"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=990200"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-5759/"
  );
  # https://www.suse.com/support/update/announcement/2016/suse-su-20162553-1/
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"http://www.nessus.org/u?2c87e53f"
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"solution", 
    value:
"To install this SUSE Security Update use YaST online_update.
Alternatively you can run the command listed for your product :

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12-SP1:zypper in -t patch
SUSE-SLE-SERVER-12-SP1-2016-1492=1

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12-SP1:zypper in -t patch
SUSE-SLE-DESKTOP-12-SP1-2016-1492=1

To bring your system up-to-date, use 'zypper patch'."
  );
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/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:novell:suse_linux:kdump");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:suse_linux:kdump-debuginfo");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:suse_linux:kdump-debugsource");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:novell:suse_linux:12");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2017/09/08");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2016/10/17");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2016/10/26");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2016-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");
  script_family(english:"SuSE Local Security Checks");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/cpu", "Host/SuSE/release", "Host/SuSE/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/SuSE/release");
if (isnull(release) || release !~ "^(SLED|SLES)") audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "SUSE");
os_ver = pregmatch(pattern: "^(SLE(S|D)\d+)", string:release);
if (isnull(os_ver)) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_APP_VER, "SUSE");
os_ver = os_ver[1];
if (! preg(pattern:"^(SLED12|SLES12)$", string:os_ver)) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "SUSE SLED12 / SLES12", "SUSE " + os_ver);

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

cpu = get_kb_item("Host/cpu");
if (isnull(cpu)) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_ARCH);
if (cpu !~ "^i[3-6]86$" && "x86_64" >!< cpu && "s390x" >!< cpu) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, "SUSE " + os_ver, cpu);

sp = get_kb_item("Host/SuSE/patchlevel");
if (isnull(sp)) sp = "0";
if (os_ver == "SLES12" && (! preg(pattern:"^(1)$", string:sp))) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "SLES12 SP1", os_ver + " SP" + sp);
if (os_ver == "SLED12" && (! preg(pattern:"^(1)$", string:sp))) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "SLED12 SP1", os_ver + " SP" + sp);


flag = 0;
if (rpm_check(release:"SLES12", sp:"1", reference:"kdump-0.8.15-29.1")) flag++;
if (rpm_check(release:"SLES12", sp:"1", reference:"kdump-debuginfo-0.8.15-29.1")) flag++;
if (rpm_check(release:"SLES12", sp:"1", reference:"kdump-debugsource-0.8.15-29.1")) flag++;
if (rpm_check(release:"SLED12", sp:"1", cpu:"x86_64", reference:"kdump-0.8.15-29.1")) flag++;
if (rpm_check(release:"SLED12", sp:"1", cpu:"x86_64", reference:"kdump-debuginfo-0.8.15-29.1")) flag++;
if (rpm_check(release:"SLED12", sp:"1", cpu:"x86_64", reference:"kdump-debugsource-0.8.15-29.1")) 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, "kdump");
}

References