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GHSA-x6jc-phwx-hp32
No affected components available
Summary
A user with the ability to launch a container with a custom YAML configuration (e.g a member of the ‘incus’ group) can create an environment variable containing newlines, which can be used to add additional configuration items in the container’s lxc.conf due to the newline injection. This can allow adding arbitrary lifecycle hooks, ultimately resulting in arbitrary command execution on the host.
Details
When passing environment variables in the config block of a new container, values are not checked for the presence of newlines [1], which can result in newline injection inside the generated container lxc.conf. This can be used to set arbitrary additional configuration items, such as lxc.hook.pre-start. By exploiting this, a user with the ability to launch a container with an arbitrary config can achieve arbitrary command execution as root on the host.
Exploiting this issue on IncusOS requires a slight modification of the payload to change to a different writable directory for the validation step (e.g /tmp). This can be confirmed with a second container with /tmp mounted from the host (A privileged action for validation only).
[1] https://github.com/lxc/incus/blob/HEAD/internal/server/instance/drivers/driver_lxc.go#L1081
PoC
A proof-of-concept script exploiting this vulnerability can be found attached, named environment_newline_injection.sh, showing arbitrary command execution, which will write a file to the root filesystem (/newline_injection_command_exec_poc)
Manual Reproduction steps:
- Launch a new container with a configuration file containing a multiline YAML string as an environment variable value, such as in the listing below.
- Observe that the lxc.conf (
/run/incus/user-1000_poc/lxc.confin my case) contains an additionallxc.hook.pre-startitem - Observe the creation of the file in the host root directory, with contents proving command execution as root.
incus launch images:alpine/edge --ephemeral poc << EOF
config:
environment.FOO: |-
abc
lxc.hook.pre-start = /bin/sh -c "id > /newline_injection_command_exec_poc"
EOF
Impact
A user with the ability to launch a container with a custom YAML configuration (e.g a member of the ‘incus’ group) can achieve arbitrary command execution on the host.
Attachments
environment_newline_injection.sh environment_newline_injection.patch
The vulnerability can be exploited over a local network, such as Wi-Fi. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker needs basic access or low-level privileges. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability. The vulnerability can affect other systems as well, not just the initial system. There is a high impact on the confidentiality of the information. There is a high impact on the integrity of the data.
Exploitation activity has been observed. Apply available patches or mitigations urgently.
The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.
We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.
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