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GHSA-cr84-xvw4-qx3c

HighCVSS 7.5 / 10
Published Oct 25, 2022·Last modified Nov 8, 2023
Affected Components(0)

No affected components available

Description

Impact

This impacts users that use shescape to escape arguments:

  • for the Unix shell Bash, or any not-officially-supported Unix shell;
  • using the escape or escapeAll functions with the interpolation option set to true.

An attacker can cause polynomial backtracking in terms of the input string length due to a Regular Expression in shescape that is vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS). Example:

import * as shescape from "shescape";

/* 1. Prerequisites */
const options = {
  interpolation: true,
  // and
  shell: "/bin/bash",
  // or
  shell: "some-not-officially-supported-shell",
  // or
  shell: undefined, // Only if the system's default shell is bash or an unsupported shell.
};

/* 2. Attack */
let userInput = '{,'.repeat(150_000); // polynomial backtracking

/* 3. Usage */
shescape.escape(userInput, options);
// or
shescape.escapeAll([userInput], options);

Patches

This bug has been patched in v1.6.1 which you can upgrade to now. No further changes required.

Workarounds

Alternatively, a maximum length can be enforced on input strings to shescape to reduce the impact of the vulnerability. It is not recommended to try and detect vulnerable input strings, as the logic for this may end up being vulnerable to ReDoS itself.

References

For more information

Risk Scores
Base Score
7.5

The vulnerability can be exploited over the network without needing physical access. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker does not need any special privileges or access rights. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability. The impact is confined to the system where the vulnerability exists. There is a high impact on the availability of the system.

Threat Intelligence
6.9

Exploitation attempts have been detected. Elevated vigilance and prompt remediation are advised.

EPSS
1.25%

The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.

Exploit
Not available

We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.

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