GLSA 200809-12: Newsbeuter: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	Newsbeuter: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code
Date:	09/22/2008
Bugs:	#236506
ID:	200809-12

Synopsis

Insufficient input validation in newsbeuter may allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary shell commands.

Background

Newsbeuter is a RSS/Atom feed reader for the text console.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
net-news/newsbeuter	< 1.2	>= 1.2	All supported architectures

Description

J.H.M. Dassen reported that the open-in-browser command does not properly escape shell metacharacters in the URL before passing it to system().

Impact

A remote attacker could entice a user to open a feed with specially crafted URLs, possibly resulting in the remote execution of arbitrary shell commands with the privileges of the user running the application.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Newsbeuter users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-news/newsbeuter-1.2"

References

CVE-2008-3907

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200809-12.xml

Concerns?

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at https://bugs.gentoo.org.