Vulnerabilities > CVE-2017-12172 - Link Following vulnerability in Postgresql
Attack vector
LOCAL Attack complexity
LOW Privileges required
HIGH Confidentiality impact
HIGH Integrity impact
HIGH Availability impact
HIGH Summary
PostgreSQL 10.x before 10.1, 9.6.x before 9.6.6, 9.5.x before 9.5.10, 9.4.x before 9.4.15, 9.3.x before 9.3.20, and 9.2.x before 9.2.24 runs under a non-root operating system account, and database superusers have effective ability to run arbitrary code under that system account. PostgreSQL provides a script for starting the database server during system boot. Packages of PostgreSQL for many operating systems provide their own, packager-authored startup implementations. Several implementations use a log file name that the database superuser can replace with a symbolic link. As root, they open(), chmod() and/or chown() this log file name. This often suffices for the database superuser to escalate to root privileges when root starts the server.
Vulnerable Configurations
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 family Huawei Local Security Checks NASL id EULEROS_SA-2017-1341.NASL description According to the versions of the postgresql packages installed, the EulerOS installation on the remote host is affected by the following vulnerabilities : - Privilege escalation flaws were found in the initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. An attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine. (CVE-2017-12172, CVE-2017-15097) Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the EulerOS security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues. last seen 2020-05-06 modified 2017-12-18 plugin id 105322 published 2017-12-18 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/105322 title EulerOS 2.0 SP2 : postgresql (EulerOS-SA-2017-1341) code # # (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc. # include("compat.inc"); if (description) { script_id(105322); script_version("3.14"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_modification_date", value:"2020/05/04"); script_cve_id( "CVE-2017-12172", "CVE-2017-15097" ); script_name(english:"EulerOS 2.0 SP2 : postgresql (EulerOS-SA-2017-1341)"); script_summary(english:"Checks the rpm output for the updated packages."); script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value: "The remote EulerOS host is missing multiple security updates."); script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value: "According to the versions of the postgresql packages installed, the EulerOS installation on the remote host is affected by the following vulnerabilities : - Privilege escalation flaws were found in the initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. An attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine. (CVE-2017-12172, CVE-2017-15097) Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the EulerOS security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues."); # https://developer.huaweicloud.com/ict/en/site-euleros/euleros/security-advisories/EulerOS-SA-2017-1341 script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"http://www.nessus.org/u?06772c28"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value: "Update the affected postgresql packages."); script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/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:H/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:"patch_publication_date", value:"2017/12/14"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2017/12/18"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:huawei:euleros:postgresql"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:huawei:euleros:postgresql-contrib"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:huawei:euleros:postgresql-devel"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:huawei:euleros:postgresql-docs"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:huawei:euleros:postgresql-libs"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:huawei:euleros:postgresql-plperl"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:huawei:euleros:postgresql-plpython"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:huawei:euleros:postgresql-pltcl"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:huawei:euleros:postgresql-server"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:huawei:euleros:postgresql-test"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:huawei:euleros:2.0"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current"); script_end_attributes(); script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO); script_family(english:"Huawei Local Security Checks"); script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof."); script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl"); script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/EulerOS/release", "Host/EulerOS/rpm-list", "Host/EulerOS/sp"); script_exclude_keys("Host/EulerOS/uvp_version"); 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/EulerOS/release"); if (isnull(release) || release !~ "^EulerOS") audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "EulerOS"); if (release !~ "^EulerOS release 2\.0(\D|$)") audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "EulerOS 2.0"); sp = get_kb_item("Host/EulerOS/sp"); if (isnull(sp) || sp !~ "^(2)$") audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "EulerOS 2.0 SP2"); uvp = get_kb_item("Host/EulerOS/uvp_version"); if (!empty_or_null(uvp)) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "EulerOS 2.0 SP2", "EulerOS UVP " + uvp); if (!get_kb_item("Host/EulerOS/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$" && "aarch64" >!< cpu) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, "EulerOS", cpu); if ("x86_64" >!< cpu && cpu !~ "^i[3-6]86$") audit(AUDIT_ARCH_NOT, "i686 / x86_64", cpu); flag = 0; pkgs = ["postgresql-9.2.23-3", "postgresql-contrib-9.2.23-3", "postgresql-devel-9.2.23-3", "postgresql-docs-9.2.23-3", "postgresql-libs-9.2.23-3", "postgresql-plperl-9.2.23-3", "postgresql-plpython-9.2.23-3", "postgresql-pltcl-9.2.23-3", "postgresql-server-9.2.23-3", "postgresql-test-9.2.23-3"]; foreach (pkg in pkgs) if (rpm_check(release:"EulerOS-2.0", sp:"2", reference:pkg)) flag++; if (flag) { security_report_v4( port : 0, severity : SECURITY_HOLE, extra : rpm_report_get() ); exit(0); } else { tested = pkg_tests_get(); if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested); else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "postgresql"); }NASL family Huawei Local Security Checks NASL id EULEROS_SA-2017-1340.NASL description According to the versions of the postgresql packages installed, the EulerOS installation on the remote host is affected by the following vulnerabilities : - Privilege escalation flaws were found in the initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. An attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine. (CVE-2017-12172, CVE-2017-15097) Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the EulerOS security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues. last seen 2020-05-06 modified 2017-12-18 plugin id 105321 published 2017-12-18 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/105321 title EulerOS 2.0 SP1 : postgresql (EulerOS-SA-2017-1340) NASL family CentOS Local Security Checks NASL id CENTOS_RHSA-2017-3402.NASL description An update for postgresql is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Moderate. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section. PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system (DBMS). Security Fix(es) : * Privilege escalation flaws were found in the initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. An attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine. (CVE-2017-12172, CVE-2017-15097) Note: This patch drops the script privileges from root to the postgres user. Therefore, this update works properly only if the postgres user has write access to the postgres last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 105114 published 2017-12-11 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/105114 title CentOS 7 : postgresql (CESA-2017:3402) NASL family Amazon Linux Local Security Checks NASL id ALA_ALAS-2017-930.NASL description Privilege escalation flaws were found in the initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. A remote attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine.(CVE-2017-12172) INSERT ... ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE commands in PostgreSQL disclose table contents that the invoker lacks privilege to read. These exploits affect only tables where the attacker lacks full read access but has both INSERT and UPDATE privileges. Exploits bypass row level security policies and lack of SELECT privilege.(CVE-2017-15099) Invalid json_populate_recordset or jsonb_populate_recordset function calls in PostgreSQL can crash the server or disclose a few bytes of server memory.(CVE-2017-15098) last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 105054 published 2017-12-07 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/105054 title Amazon Linux AMI : postgresql95 / postgresql96 (ALAS-2017-930) NASL family Amazon Linux Local Security Checks NASL id ALA_ALAS-2017-931.NASL description Privilege escalation flaws were found in the initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. A remote attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine.( CVE-2017-12172) Invalid json_populate_recordset or jsonb_populate_recordset function calls in PostgreSQL can crash the server or disclose a few bytes of server memory.(CVE-2017-15098) last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 105055 published 2017-12-07 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/105055 title Amazon Linux AMI : postgresql92 / postgresql93,postgresql94 (ALAS-2017-931) NASL family SuSE Local Security Checks NASL id SUSE_SU-2018-0077-1.NASL description This update for postgresql94 fixes the following issues: Security issues fixed : - CVE-2017-15098: Fix crash due to rowtype mismatch in json{b}_populate_recordset() (bsc#1067844). - CVE-2017-12172: Start scripts permit database administrator to modify root-owned files. This issue did not affect SUSE (bsc#1062538). Bug fixes : - Update to version 9.4.15 - https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/release-9-4-15.html - https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/release-9-4-14.html 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. last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 106047 published 2018-01-15 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2018-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/106047 title SUSE SLES11 Security Update : postgresql94 (SUSE-SU-2018:0077-1) NASL family Junos Local Security Checks NASL id JUNIPER_SPACE_JSA_10838.NASL description According to its self-reported version number, the remote Junos Space version is prior to 17.2R1. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities. last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 108520 published 2018-03-21 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2018-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/108520 title Juniper Junos Space < 17.2R1 Multiple Vulnerabilities (JSA10838) NASL family Databases NASL id POSTGRESQL_20171109.NASL description The version of PostgreSQL installed on the remote host is 9.2.x prior to 9.2.24, 9.3.x prior to 9.3.20, 9.4.x prior to 9.4.15, 9.5.x prior to 9.5.10, 9.6.x prior to 9.6.6, or 10.x prior to 10.1. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities including a denial of service attack. last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 104574 published 2017-11-15 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/104574 title PostgreSQL 9.2.x < 9.2.24 / 9.3.x < 9.3.20 / 9.4.x < 9.4.15 / 9.5.x < 9.5.10 / 9.6.x < 9.6.6 / 10.x < 10.1 Multiple Vulnerabilities NASL family Scientific Linux Local Security Checks NASL id SL_20171219_POSTGRESQL_ON_SL7_X.NASL description Security Fix(es) : - Privilege escalation flaws were found in the initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. An attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine. (CVE-2017-12172, CVE-2017-15097) Note: This patch drops the script privileges from root to the postgres user. Therefore, this update works properly only if the postgres user has write access to the postgres last seen 2020-03-18 modified 2017-12-20 plugin id 105387 published 2017-12-20 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/105387 title Scientific Linux Security Update : postgresql on SL7.x x86_64 (20171219) NASL family Oracle Linux Local Security Checks NASL id ORACLELINUX_ELSA-2017-3402.NASL description From Red Hat Security Advisory 2017:3402 : An update for postgresql is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Moderate. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section. PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system (DBMS). Security Fix(es) : * Privilege escalation flaws were found in the initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. An attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine. (CVE-2017-12172, CVE-2017-15097) Note: This patch drops the script privileges from root to the postgres user. Therefore, this update works properly only if the postgres user has write access to the postgres last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 105142 published 2017-12-11 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/105142 title Oracle Linux 7 : postgresql (ELSA-2017-3402) NASL family NewStart CGSL Local Security Checks NASL id NEWSTART_CGSL_NS-SA-2019-0006_POSTGRESQL.NASL description The remote NewStart CGSL host, running version MAIN 5.04, has postgresql packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities: - Privilege escalation flaws were found in the Red Hat initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. An attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine. (CVE-2017-15097) - Privilege escalation flaws were found in the initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. An attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine. (CVE-2017-12172) Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 127150 published 2019-08-12 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/127150 title NewStart CGSL MAIN 5.04 : postgresql Multiple Vulnerabilities (NS-SA-2019-0006) NASL family SuSE Local Security Checks NASL id SUSE_SU-2018-0081-1.NASL description This update for postgresql94 fixes the following issues: Security issues fixed : - CVE-2017-15098: Fix crash due to rowtype mismatch in json{b}_populate_recordset() (bsc#1067844). - CVE-2017-12172: Start scripts permit database administrator to modify root-owned files. This issue did not affect SUSE (bsc#1062538). Bug fixes : - Update to version 9.4.15 - https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/release-9-4-15.html - https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/release-9-4-14.html 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. last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 106049 published 2018-01-15 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2018-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/106049 title SUSE SLED12 / SLES12 Security Update : postgresql94 (SUSE-SU-2018:0081-1) NASL family Red Hat Local Security Checks NASL id REDHAT-RHSA-2017-3402.NASL description An update for postgresql is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Moderate. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section. PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system (DBMS). Security Fix(es) : * Privilege escalation flaws were found in the initialization scripts of PostgreSQL. An attacker with access to the postgres user account could use these flaws to obtain root access on the server machine. (CVE-2017-12172, CVE-2017-15097) Note: This patch drops the script privileges from root to the postgres user. Therefore, this update works properly only if the postgres user has write access to the postgres last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 105092 published 2017-12-08 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2017-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/105092 title RHEL 7 : postgresql (RHSA-2017:3402) NASL family PhotonOS Local Security Checks NASL id PHOTONOS_PHSA-2017-0048.NASL description An update of [curl,glibc,postgresql] packages of photonOS has been released. last seen 2019-02-21 modified 2019-02-07 plugin id 111897 published 2018-08-17 reporter Tenable source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/index.php?view=single&id=111897 title Photon OS 1.0: Curl / Glibc PHSA-2017-0048 (deprecated) NASL family SuSE Local Security Checks NASL id OPENSUSE-2018-38.NASL description This update for postgresql94 fixes the following issues : Security issues fixed : - CVE-2017-15098: Fix crash due to rowtype mismatch in json(b)_populate_recordset() (bsc#1067844). - CVE-2017-12172: Start scripts permit database administrator to modify root-owned files. This issue did not affect SUSE (bsc#1062538). Bug fixes : - Update to version 9.4.15 - https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/release-9-4-15.html - https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/release-9-4-14.html This update was imported from the SUSE:SLE-12:Update update project. last seen 2020-06-05 modified 2018-01-16 plugin id 106067 published 2018-01-16 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2018-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/106067 title openSUSE Security Update : postgresql94 (openSUSE-2018-38)
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References
- https://www.postgresql.org/support/security/
- https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/1801/
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1039752
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101949
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:3405
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:3404
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:3403
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:3402