CVE-2017-1000254
FTP PWD response parser out of bounds read
Project curl Security Advisory, October 4th 2017 - Permalink
VULNERABILITY
libcurl may read outside of a heap allocated buffer when doing FTP.
When libcurl connects to an FTP server and successfully logs in
(anonymous or not), it asks the server for the current directory with
the PWD
command. The server then responds with a 257
response containing the path, inside double quotes. The returned path
name is then kept by libcurl for subsequent uses.
Due to a flaw in the string parser for this directory name, a directory name passed like this but without a closing double quote would lead to libcurl not adding a trailing null byte to the buffer holding the name. When libcurl would then later access the string, it could read beyond the allocated heap buffer and crash or wrongly access data beyond the buffer, thinking it was part of the path.
A malicious server could abuse this fact and effectively prevent libcurl-based clients to work with it - the PWD command is always issued on new FTP connections and the mistake has a high chance of causing a segfault.
The simple fact that this issue has remained undiscovered for this long could suggest that malformed PWD responses are rare in benign servers.
INFO
In libcurl version 7.56.0, the parser always zero terminates the string but also rejects it if not terminated properly with a final double quote.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the name CVE-2017-1000254 to this issue.
CWE-126: Buffer Over-read
Severity: Medium
AFFECTED VERSIONS
- Affected versions: libcurl 7.7 to and including 7.55.1
- Not affected versions: libcurl < 7.7 and >= 7.56.0
- Introduced-in: https://github.com/curl/curl/commit/415d2e7cb7
curl is used by many applications, but not always advertised as such.
SOLUTION
RECOMMENDATIONS
We suggest you take one of the following actions immediately, in order of preference:
A - Upgrade curl to version 7.56.0
B - Apply the patch to your version and rebuild
C - Switch off FTP in CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS
TIMELINE
It was reported to the curl project on September 24, 2017. We contacted distros@openwall on September 25.
curl 7.56.0 was released on October 4 2017, coordinated with the publication of this advisory.
CREDITS
- Reported-by: Max Dymond
- Patched-by: Daniel Stenberg
Thanks a lot!