OS Command Injection in GNU patch - CVE-2018-20969
Published: August 27, 2019
Vulnerability identifier: #VU20411
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Amber
CVE-ID: CVE-2018-20969
CWE-ID: CWE-78
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: GNU
Affected software:
GNU patch
GNU patch
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary shell commands on the target system.
The vulnerability exists due to the "do_ed_script" function in the "pch.c" file does not block strings beginning with a ! character. A remote unauthenticated attacker can trick a victim to open a specially crafted patch file and execute arbitrary OS shell commands on the target system.
Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may result in complete compromise of vulnerable system.
How to mitigate CVE-2018-20969
Cybersecurity Help is currently unaware of any official solution to address this vulnerability.