com_line() in command.c in gnuplot 5.4 leads to an out-of-bounds-write from strncpy() that may lead to arbitrary code execution.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - com_line() in command.c in gnuplot 5.4 leads to an out-of-bounds-write from strncpy() that may lead to     arbitrary code execution. (CVE-2020-25412)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

The remote Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-7589-1 advisory.

    Tim Blazytko, Cornelius Aschermann, Sergej Schumilo, and Nils Bars discovered that Gnuplot had several     memory-related issues. An attacker could possibly use these issues to cause Gnuplot to experience a buffer     overflow, resulting in a denial of service or arbitrary code execution. These issues only affected Ubuntu     14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. (CVE-2018-19490, CVE-2018-19491, CVE-2018-19492)

    It was discovered that Gnuplot could write out-of-bounds due to the use of strncpy(). An attacker could     possibly use this issue to enable the execution of arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04     LTS. (CVE-2020-25412)

    It was discovered that Gnuplot incorrectly freed memory when executing print_set_output(). An attacker     could possibly use this issue to enable the execution of arbitrary code. (CVE-2020-25559)

    It was discovered that Gnuplot's plotrequest() function contained a buffer overflow. An attacker could     possibly use this issue to cause Gnuplot to crash, resulting in a denial of service or arbitrary code     execution. (CVE-2020-25969)

    It was discovered that Gnuplot's boundary3d() function could be made to divide by zero. An attacker could     possibly use this issue to cause Gnuplot to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2021-44917)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

An update of the gnuplot package has been released.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
253265	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2020-25412	Nessus	Misc.	critical
240563	Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS : Gnuplot vulnerabilities (USN-7589-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	critical
203969	Photon OS 3.0: Gnuplot PHSA-2023-3.0-0578	Nessus	PhotonOS Local Security Checks	critical
203426	Photon OS 4.0: Gnuplot PHSA-2021-4.0-0022	Nessus	PhotonOS Local Security Checks	critical

Detections

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CVE-2020-25412

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