[ale] CIAC Bulletin G-41: Vulnerability in BASH Program

Ray Spalding cc100aa at xray.oit.gatech.edu
Mon Sep 2 07:19:16 EDT 1996


PLEASE NOTE: This problem is described below as "especially dangerous" for:
(1) World Wide Web servers and (2) Linux systems.  --Ray

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Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 16:32:37 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: CIAC Bulletin G-41: Vulnerability in BASH Program
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             __________________________________________________________

                       The U.S. Department of Energy
                    Computer Incident Advisory Capability
                           ___  __ __    _     ___
                          /       |     /_\   /
                          \___  __|__  /   \  \___
             __________________________________________________________

                             INFORMATION BULLETIN

                         Vulnerability in BASH Program

August 29, 1996 15:00 GMT                                          Number G-41
______________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM:       A variable declaration error in the GNU Project's BASH (Bourne 

               Again SHell) program allows the character with value 255 

               decimal to be used as a command separator. 

PLATFORM:      BASH 1.14.6 and any earlier versions. 

DAMAGE:        When used in environments where users provide strings to be 

               used as commands or arguments to commands, BASH can be tricked 

               into executing arbitrary commands. 

SOLUTION:      Apply the patches listed in the vendor bulletin below. 

______________________________________________________________________________
VULNERABILITY  This vulnerability is becoming widely known. 

ASSESSMENT:                                                                   

______________________________________________________________________________

This is a combination of two bulletins sent out by IBM on the BASH 

Vulnerability. 


- -  
--ERS-ALERT--ERS-ALERT--ERS-ALERT--ERS-ALERT--ERS-ALERT--ERS-ALERT-ERS-ALERT
- - ---EXTERNAL RELEASE---EXTERNAL RELEASE---EXTERNAL RELEASE---EXTERNAL  
RELEASE

                  =======  ============    ======       ======
                  =======  ==============  =======     =======
                    ===      ===     ====    ======   ======
                    ===      ===========     ======= =======
                    ===      ===========     === ======= ===
                    ===      ===     ====    ===  =====  ===
                  =======  ==============  =====   ===   =====
                  =======  ============    =====    =    =====

                           EMERGENCY RESPONSE SERVICE
			  SECURITY VULNERABILITY ALERT

21 August 1996 13:00 GMT                       Number: ERS-SVA-E01-1996:004.1
28 August 1996 18:00 GMT                       Number: ERS-SVA-E01-1996:004.2
=============================================================================
                             VULNERABILITY  SUMMARY

VULNERABILITY:  A variable declaration error in "bash" allows the character
		with value 255 decimal to be used as a command separator.

PLATFORMS:	Bash 1.14.6 and earlier versions.

SOLUTION:	Apply the patch provided below.

THREAT:		When used in environments where users provide strings to be
		used as commands or arguments to commands, "bash" can be
		tricked into executing arbitrary commands.

=============================================================================
                              DETAILED INFORMATION

I. Description

   A. Introduction

      The GNU Project's Bourne Again SHell ("bash") is a drop-in replacement
      for the UNIX Bourne shell (/bin/sh).  It offers the same syntax as the
      standard shell, but also includes additional functionality such as job
      control, command line editing, and history.

      Although "bash" can be compiled and installed on almost any UNIX
      platform, its most prevalent use is on "free" versions of UNIX such as
      Linux, where it has been installed as "/bin/sh" (the default shell for
      most uses).

      The "bash" source code is freely available from many sites on the
      Internet.

   B. Vulnerability Details

      There is a variable declaration error in the "yy_string_get()" function
      in the "parser.y" module of the "bash" source code.  This function is
      responsible for parsing the user-provided command line into separate
      tokens (commands, special characters, arguments, etc.).  The error
      involves the variable "string," which has been declared to be of type
      "char *."

      The "string" variable is used to traverse the character string
      containing the command line to be parsed.  As characters are retrieved
      from this pointer, they are stored in a variable of type "int."  On
      systems/compilers where the "char" type defaults to "signed char", this
      vaule will be sign-extended when it is assigned to the "int" variable.
      For character code 255 decimal (-1 in two's complement form), this sign
      extension results in the value (-1) being assigned to the integer.

      However, (-1) is used in other parts of the parser to indicate the end
      of a command.  Thus, the character code 255 decimal (377 octal) will
      serve as an unintended command separator for commands given to "bash"
      via the "-c" option.  For example,

	bash -c 'ls\377who'

      (where "\377" represents the single character with value 255 decimal)
      will execute two commands, "ls" and "who."

II. Impact

This unexpected command separator can be dangerous, especially on systems such
as Linux where "bash" has been installed as "/bin/sh," when a program executes
a command with a string provided by a user as an argument using the "system()"
or "popen()" functions (or by calling "/bin/sh -c string" directly).

This is especially true for the CGI programming interface in World Wide Web
servers, many of which do not strip out characters with value 255 decimal.  If
a user sending data to the server can specify the character code 255 in a
string that is passed to a shell, and that shell is "bash," the user can
execute any arbitrary command with the user-id and permissions of the user
running the server (frequently "root").

The "bash" built-in commands "eval," "source," and "fc" are also potentially
vulnerable to this problem.

III. Solutions

How to alleviate the problem

   This problem can be alleviated by changing the declaration of the
   "string" variable in the "yy_string_get()" function from "char *" to
   "unsigned char *."

I. New version of "bash" released

   On 27 August 1996, Version 1.14.7 of "bash" was released.  You can obtain
   this new version from:

	ftp://slc2.ins.cwru.edu/pub/dist/bash-1.14.7.tar.gz

   (It will also be available from the usual GNU archives in a few days.)

II. Updated patch for second potential problem

   IBM-ERS has now received information that a similar problem exists with 

   the "yy_readline_get()" function, also in the file "parse.y," which is 

   used to read commands in interactive shells (ones that print a prompt 

   and read from the keyboard, a shell script, or a pipe).

   It is not clear that this problem produces any exploitable vulnerabilities
   in the "bash" program, however, you may wish to address the problem for
   completeness' sake.

   This problem can be alleviated by applying the patch below to the "bash"
   source code, then recompiling the program, and installing the new version.

   The patch below is for Version 1.14.7 of "bash."  Source code for this
   version can be obtained from the site listed above, as well as many other
   sites around the Internet.

- - ---------------------------------- cut here  
--------------------------------
*** parse.y.old	Mon Aug 26 11:15:55 1996
- - --- parse.y	Wed Aug 28 08:49:15 1996
***************
*** 801,807 ****
  

  #if defined (READLINE)
  char *current_readline_prompt = (char *)NULL;
! char *current_readline_line = (char *)NULL;
  int current_readline_line_index = 0;
  

  static int
- - --- 801,807 ----
  

  #if defined (READLINE)
  char *current_readline_prompt = (char *)NULL;
! unsigned char *current_readline_line = (unsigned char *)NULL;
  int current_readline_line_index = 0;
  

  static int
- - ---------------------------------- cut here  
--------------------------------

   To apply this patch, save the text between the two "--- cut here ---" lines
   to a file, change directories to the "bash" source directory, and issue the
   command

	patch < filename

   If you do not have the "patch" program, you can obtain it from

	ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/patch-2.1.tar.gz

   or you can apply the patch by hand.

   After applying the patch, recompile and reinstall the "bash" program by
   following the directions in the "INSTALL" file, included as part of the
   "bash" distribution.

   THIS PATCH IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING, 

   WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS
   FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  THIS ADVISORY DOES NOT CREATE OR IMPLY ANY
   SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS OR ANY OTHER LIABILITY ON THE PART OF IBM OR ITS
   SUBSIDIARIES.



IV. Acknowledgements

IBM-ERS would like to thank the IBM Global Security Analysis Laboratory at the
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center and Jens Schweikhardt of the DFN Network 

Operations Center for their discovery of this vulnerability, bringing it to 

our attention, providing the patch to fix it, and assistance in developing 

this alert.  IBM-ERS would like to thank DFN-CERT for relaying the information
to us.

UNIX is a technology trademark of X/Open Company, Ltd.

===============================================================================

_______________________________________________________________________________

CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of IBM for the 

information contained in this bulletin.
_______________________________________________________________________________


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