Vulnerabilities > CVE-2019-13917 - Data Processing Errors vulnerability in multiple products
Attack vector
NETWORK Attack complexity
LOW Privileges required
NONE Confidentiality impact
HIGH Integrity impact
HIGH Availability impact
HIGH Summary
Exim 4.85 through 4.92 (fixed in 4.92.1) allows remote code execution as root in some unusual configurations that use the ${sort } expansion for items that can be controlled by an attacker (e.g., $local_part or $domain).
Vulnerable Configurations
Part | Description | Count |
---|---|---|
Application | 59 | |
OS | 2 |
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
- Overflow Buffers Buffer Overflow attacks target improper or missing bounds checking on buffer operations, typically triggered by input injected by an attacker. As a consequence, an attacker is able to write past the boundaries of allocated buffer regions in memory, causing a program crash or potentially redirection of execution as per the attackers' choice.
- XML Nested Payloads Applications often need to transform data in and out of the XML format by using an XML parser. It may be possible for an attacker to inject data that may have an adverse effect on the XML parser when it is being processed. By nesting XML data and causing this data to be continuously self-referential, an attacker can cause the XML parser to consume more resources while processing, causing excessive memory consumption and CPU utilization. An attacker's goal is to leverage parser failure to his or her advantage. In most cases this type of an attack will result in a denial of service due to an application becoming unstable, freezing, or crash. However it may be possible to cause a crash resulting in arbitrary code execution, leading to a jump from the data plane to the control plane [R.230.1].
- XML Oversized Payloads Applications often need to transform data in and out of the XML format by using an XML parser. It may be possible for an attacker to inject data that may have an adverse effect on the XML parser when it is being processed. By supplying oversized payloads in input vectors that will be processed by the XML parser, an attacker can cause the XML parser to consume more resources while processing, causing excessive memory consumption and CPU utilization, and potentially cause execution of arbitrary code. An attacker's goal is to leverage parser failure to his or her advantage. In many cases this type of an attack will result in a denial of service due to an application becoming unstable, freezing, or crash. However it is possible to cause a crash resulting in arbitrary code execution, leading to a jump from the data plane to the control plane [R.231.1].
- XML Client-Side Attack Client applications such as web browsers that process HTML data often need to transform data in and out of the XML format by using an XML parser. It may be possible for an attacker to inject data that may have an adverse effect on the XML parser when it is being processed. These adverse effects may include the parser crashing, consuming too much of a resource, executing too slowly, executing code supplied by an attacker, allowing usage of unintended system functionality, etc. An attacker's goal is to leverage parser failure to his or her advantage. In some cases it may be possible to jump from the data plane to the control plane via bad data being passed to an XML parser. [R.484.1]
- XML Parser Attack Applications often need to transform data in and out of the XML format by using an XML parser. It may be possible for an attacker to inject data that may have an adverse effect on the XML parser when it is being processed. These adverse effects may include the parser crashing, consuming too much of a resource, executing too slowly, executing code supplied by an attacker, allowing usage of unintended system functionality, etc. An attacker's goal is to leverage parser failure to his or her advantage. In some cases it may be possible to jump from the data plane to the control plane via bad data being passed to an XML parser. [R.99.1]
Nessus
NASL family SuSE Local Security Checks NASL id OPENSUSE-2019-1812.NASL description This update for exim fixes the following issues : - CVE-2019-13917: Fixed an issue with $(sort) expansion which could allow remote attackers to execute other programs with root privileges (boo#1142207). last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 127732 published 2019-08-12 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/127732 title openSUSE Security Update : exim (openSUSE-2019-1812) code # # (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc. # # The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were # extracted from openSUSE Security Update openSUSE-2019-1812. # # The text description of this plugin is (C) SUSE LLC. # include("compat.inc"); if (description) { script_id(127732); script_version("1.3"); script_cvs_date("Date: 2020/01/06"); script_cve_id("CVE-2019-13917"); script_name(english:"openSUSE Security Update : exim (openSUSE-2019-1812)"); script_summary(english:"Check for the openSUSE-2019-1812 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 exim fixes the following issues : - CVE-2019-13917: Fixed an issue with $(sort) expansion which could allow remote attackers to execute other programs with root privileges (boo#1142207)." ); script_set_attribute( attribute:"see_also", value:"https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1142207" ); script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:"Update the affected exim packages."); script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/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:N/AC:L/PR:N/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:"plugin_type", value:"local"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:opensuse:exim"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:opensuse:exim-debuginfo"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:opensuse:exim-debugsource"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:opensuse:eximon"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:opensuse:eximon-debuginfo"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:novell:opensuse:eximstats-html"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:novell:opensuse:15.0"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:novell:opensuse:15.1"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2019/07/25"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2019/07/30"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2019/08/12"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current"); script_end_attributes(); script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO); script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 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/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 !~ "^(SUSE15\.0|SUSE15\.1)$") audit(AUDIT_OS_RELEASE_NOT, "openSUSE", "15.0 / 15.1", 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 !~ "^(x86_64)$") audit(AUDIT_ARCH_NOT, "x86_64", ourarch); flag = 0; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.0", reference:"exim-4.88-lp150.3.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.0", reference:"exim-debuginfo-4.88-lp150.3.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.0", reference:"exim-debugsource-4.88-lp150.3.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.0", reference:"eximon-4.88-lp150.3.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.0", reference:"eximon-debuginfo-4.88-lp150.3.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.0", reference:"eximstats-html-4.88-lp150.3.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.1", reference:"exim-4.88-lp151.4.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.1", reference:"exim-debuginfo-4.88-lp151.4.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.1", reference:"exim-debugsource-4.88-lp151.4.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.1", reference:"eximon-4.88-lp151.4.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.1", reference:"eximon-debuginfo-4.88-lp151.4.6.1") ) flag++; if ( rpm_check(release:"SUSE15.1", reference:"eximstats-html-4.88-lp151.4.6.1") ) flag++; if (flag) { if (report_verbosity > 0) security_hole(port:0, extra:rpm_report_get()); else security_hole(0); exit(0); } else { tested = pkg_tests_get(); if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested); else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "exim / exim-debuginfo / exim-debugsource / eximon / etc"); }
NASL family Ubuntu Local Security Checks NASL id UBUNTU_USN-4075-1.NASL description Jeremy Harris discovered that Exim incorrectly handled sort expansions. In environments where sort expansions are used, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code as root. 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. last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 127096 published 2019-07-26 reporter Ubuntu Security Notice (C) 2019-2020 Canonical, Inc. / NASL script (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/127096 title Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 19.04 : exim4 vulnerability (USN-4075-1) code # # (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc. # # The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were # extracted from Ubuntu Security Notice USN-4075-1. 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(127096); script_version("1.7"); script_cvs_date("Date: 2020/01/06"); script_cve_id("CVE-2019-13917"); script_xref(name:"USN", value:"4075-1"); script_name(english:"Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 19.04 : exim4 vulnerability (USN-4075-1)"); 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: "Jeremy Harris discovered that Exim incorrectly handled sort expansions. In environments where sort expansions are used, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code as root. 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/4075-1/" ); script_set_attribute( attribute:"solution", value: "Update the affected exim4-daemon-heavy and / or exim4-daemon-light packages." ); script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/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:N/AC:L/PR:N/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:"plugin_type", value:"local"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:exim4-daemon-heavy"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:exim4-daemon-light"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:19.04"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2019/07/25"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2019/07/25"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2019/07/26"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current"); script_end_attributes(); script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO); script_copyright(english:"Ubuntu Security Notice (C) 2019-2020 Canonical, Inc. / NASL script (C) 2019-2020 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:"^(16\.04|18\.04|19\.04)$", string:release)) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Ubuntu 16.04 / 18.04 / 19.04", "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:"16.04", pkgname:"exim4-daemon-heavy", pkgver:"4.86.2-2ubuntu2.4")) flag++; if (ubuntu_check(osver:"16.04", pkgname:"exim4-daemon-light", pkgver:"4.86.2-2ubuntu2.4")) flag++; if (ubuntu_check(osver:"18.04", pkgname:"exim4-daemon-heavy", pkgver:"4.90.1-1ubuntu1.3")) flag++; if (ubuntu_check(osver:"18.04", pkgname:"exim4-daemon-light", pkgver:"4.90.1-1ubuntu1.3")) flag++; if (ubuntu_check(osver:"19.04", pkgname:"exim4-daemon-heavy", pkgver:"4.92-4ubuntu1.2")) flag++; if (ubuntu_check(osver:"19.04", pkgname:"exim4-daemon-light", pkgver:"4.92-4ubuntu1.2")) flag++; if (flag) { security_report_v4( port : 0, severity : SECURITY_HOLE, 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, "exim4-daemon-heavy / exim4-daemon-light"); }
NASL family Amazon Linux Local Security Checks NASL id ALA_ALAS-2019-1252.NASL description Exim allows remote code execution as root in some unusual configurations that use the ${sort } expansion for items that can be controlled by an attacker (e.g., $local_part or $domain). ( CVE-2019-13917) last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 127075 published 2019-07-26 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/127075 title Amazon Linux AMI : exim (ALAS-2019-1252) code # # (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc. # # The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were # extracted from Amazon Linux AMI Security Advisory ALAS-2019-1252. # include("compat.inc"); if (description) { script_id(127075); script_version("1.5"); script_cvs_date("Date: 2020/01/06"); script_cve_id("CVE-2019-13917"); script_xref(name:"ALAS", value:"2019-1252"); script_name(english:"Amazon Linux AMI : exim (ALAS-2019-1252)"); script_summary(english:"Checks rpm output for the updated packages"); script_set_attribute( attribute:"synopsis", value:"The remote Amazon Linux AMI host is missing a security update." ); script_set_attribute( attribute:"description", value: "Exim allows remote code execution as root in some unusual configurations that use the ${sort } expansion for items that can be controlled by an attacker (e.g., $local_part or $domain). ( CVE-2019-13917)" ); script_set_attribute( attribute:"see_also", value:"https://alas.aws.amazon.com/ALAS-2019-1252.html" ); script_set_attribute( attribute:"solution", value:"Run 'yum update exim' to update your system." ); script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/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:N/AC:L/PR:N/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:"plugin_type", value:"local"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:exim"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:exim-debuginfo"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:exim-greylist"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:exim-mon"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:exim-mysql"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:exim-pgsql"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:amazon:linux"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2019/07/25"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2019/07/25"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2019/07/26"); script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current"); script_end_attributes(); script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO); script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof."); script_family(english:"Amazon Linux Local Security Checks"); script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl"); script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/AmazonLinux/release", "Host/AmazonLinux/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/AmazonLinux/release"); if (isnull(release) || !strlen(release)) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Amazon Linux"); os_ver = pregmatch(pattern: "^AL(A|\d)", string:release); if (isnull(os_ver)) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_APP_VER, "Amazon Linux"); os_ver = os_ver[1]; if (os_ver != "A") { if (os_ver == 'A') os_ver = 'AMI'; audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Amazon Linux AMI", "Amazon Linux " + os_ver); } if (!get_kb_item("Host/AmazonLinux/rpm-list")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING); flag = 0; if (rpm_check(release:"ALA", reference:"exim-4.92-1.23.amzn1")) flag++; if (rpm_check(release:"ALA", reference:"exim-debuginfo-4.92-1.23.amzn1")) flag++; if (rpm_check(release:"ALA", reference:"exim-greylist-4.92-1.23.amzn1")) flag++; if (rpm_check(release:"ALA", reference:"exim-mon-4.92-1.23.amzn1")) flag++; if (rpm_check(release:"ALA", reference:"exim-mysql-4.92-1.23.amzn1")) flag++; if (rpm_check(release:"ALA", reference:"exim-pgsql-4.92-1.23.amzn1")) flag++; if (flag) { if (report_verbosity > 0) security_hole(port:0, extra:rpm_report_get()); else security_hole(0); exit(0); } else { tested = pkg_tests_get(); if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested); else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "exim / exim-debuginfo / exim-greylist / exim-mon / exim-mysql / etc"); }
NASL family Gentoo Local Security Checks NASL id GENTOO_GLSA-201909-06.NASL description The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-201909-06 (Exim: Multiple vulnerabilities) Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Exim. Please review the CVE identifiers referenced below for details. Impact : A remote attacker, by connecting to the SMTP listener daemon, could possibly execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the process or cause a Denial of Service condition. Workaround : There is no known workaround at this time. last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 128595 published 2019-09-09 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/128595 title GLSA-201909-06 : Exim: Multiple vulnerabilities NASL family Debian Local Security Checks NASL id DEBIAN_DSA-4488.NASL description Jeremy Harris discovered that Exim, a mail transport agent, does not properly handle the ${sort } expansion. This flaw can be exploited by a remote attacker to execute programs with root privileges in non-default (and unusual) configurations where ${sort } expansion is used for items that can be controlled by an attacker. last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 127077 published 2019-07-26 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/127077 title Debian DSA-4488-1 : exim4 - security update NASL family SMTP problems NASL id EXIM_4_92_1.NASL description According to its banner, the version of Exim running on the remote host is prior to 4.92.1. It is, therefore, potentially affected an input-validation flaw in the last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 128036 published 2019-08-20 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/128036 title Exim < 4.92.1 Input-Validation RCE NASL family FreeBSD Local Security Checks NASL id FREEBSD_PKG_3E0DA406AECE11E98D4197657151F8C2.NASL description Exim team report : A local or remote attacker can execute programs with root privileges - if you last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 127086 published 2019-07-26 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2019-2020 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/127086 title FreeBSD : Exim -- RCE in ${sort} expansion (3e0da406-aece-11e9-8d41-97657151f8c2)