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

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	Kpathsea: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code
Date:	09/17/2017
Bugs:	#612328
ID:	201709-07

Synopsis

A vulnerability in Kpathsea allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands by manipulating the -tex option from mpost program.

Background

Kpathsea is a library to do path searching. It is used by TeX Live and others TeX related software.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
dev-libs/kpathsea	< 6.2.2_p20160523	>= 6.2.2_p20160523	All supported architectures

Description

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.

Resolution

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.

References

CVE-2016-10243

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-201709-07.xml

Concerns?

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at https://bugs.gentoo.org.