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Use of scanf() operation that permits buffer overflows (IN EXAMPLES) #7293

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jishanshaikh4 opened this issue Jun 23, 2021 · 5 comments
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@jishanshaikh4
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jishanshaikh4 commented Jun 23, 2021

The scanf() family's %s operation, without a limit specification, permits buffer overflows (CWE-120, CWE-20).

LABEL: Bug
SEVERITY: Major
SOLUTION: Specify a limit to %s, or use a different input function.
COMMON WEAKNESS ENUMERATION INDEX: CWE-120, CWE-20
Instances found in the repo:

  • docs\examples\synctime.c:158

int RetVal = sscanf((char *)(ptr), "Date: %s %hu %s %hu %hu:%hu:%hu",

  • docs\examples\rtsp.c:176

sscanf(s, " a = control: %s", control);

@jishanshaikh4
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For the developers who used these examples as a reference to their work MUST change their sources to avoid this vulnerability.

@dfandrich
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dfandrich commented Jun 23, 2021 via email

@jishanshaikh4
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The synctime.c case has a line immediately before the sscanf to avoid an overflow (the comment says "Can prevent buffer overflow") however, it's flawed in that it relies on undefined behaviour (how variables are assigned on the stack). That's probably not a security issue in real life, but ought to be fixed. The second one doesn't look like an issue to me at all. The input buffer size is limited to less than max_len in the read, which means that the result of sscanf will always be smaller than the buffer.

The comment asks the question "Can prevent buffer overflow to TmpStr1 & 2?" as it spans in two lines.

@dfandrich
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dfandrich commented Jun 23, 2021 via email

@jishanshaikh4
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I'm not sure of the PR right now.

bagder added a commit that referenced this issue Jun 24, 2021
Reported-by: Jishan Shaikh
Fixes #7293
@bagder bagder closed this as completed in 42db4cc Jun 24, 2021
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