Arch Linux update for tar

1) Infinite loop

EUVDB-ID: #VU16782

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 5 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2018-20482

CWE-ID: CWE-835 - Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a local attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to the application mishandles file shrinkage during read access when --sparse is used. A local attacker can trigger infinite read loop in sparse_dump_region in sparse.c by modifying a file that is supposed to be archived by a different user's process (e.g., a system backup running as root) and cause denial of service conditions.

Mitigation

Update the affected package tar to version 1.31-1.

Vulnerable software versions

Arch Linux: All versions

External links

http://security.archlinux.org/advisory/ASA-201901-1

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability. However, proof of concept for this vulnerability is available.