GLSA-201709-07 : Kpathsea: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code

critical Nessus Plugin ID 103275

Synopsis

The remote Gentoo host is missing one or more security-related patches.

Description

The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-201709-07 (Kpathsea: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code)

It was discovered that the mpost program from the shell_escape_commands list is capable of executing arbitrary external programs during the conversion of .tex files. The responsible function is runpopen() (texmfmp.c).
Impact :

A remote attacker, by enticing a user to open a specially crafted .tex file, could possibly execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the process.
Workaround :

There is no known workaround at this time.

Solution

All Kpathsea users should upgrade to the latest version:
# emerge --sync # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose '>=dev-libs/kpathsea-6.2.2_p20160523' Packages which depend on this library may need to be recompiled. Tools such as revdep-rebuild may assist in identifying some of these packages.

See Also

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201709-07

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 103275

File Name: gentoo_GLSA-201709-07.nasl

Version: 3.4

Type: local

Published: 9/18/2017

Updated: 1/11/2021

Supported Sensors: Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:gentoo:linux:kpathsea, cpe:/o:gentoo:linux

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/Gentoo/release, Host/Gentoo/qpkg-list

Patch Publication Date: 9/17/2017

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2016-10243

GLSA: 201709-07