GLSA 202310-20: rxvt-unicode: Arbitrary Code Execution

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	high
Title:	rxvt-unicode: Arbitrary Code Execution
Date:	10/30/2023
Bugs:	#884787
ID:	202310-20

Synopsis

A vulnerability has been discovered in rxvt-unicode where data written to the terminal can lead to code execution.

Background

rxvt-unicode is a clone of the well known terminal emulator rxvt.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
x11-terms/rxvt-unicode	< 9.30	>= 9.30	All supported architectures

Description

A vulnerability has been discovered in rxvt-unicode. Please review the CVE identifiers referenced below for details.

Impact

in the Perl background extension, when an attacker can control the data written to the user's terminal and certain options are set. The "background" extension is automatically loaded if certain X resources are set such as 'transparent' (see the full list at the top of src/perl/background[1]). So it is possible to be using this extension without realising it.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All rxvt-unicode users should upgrade to the latest version:

          # emerge --sync
          # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-terms/rxvt-unicode-9.30"

References

CVE-2022-4170

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-202310-20.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.