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Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')

CVE-2019-12573

High
7.1/10

Summary

A vulnerability in the London Trust Media Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN Client v82 for Linux and macOS could allow an authenticated, local attacker to overwrite arbitrary files. The openvpn_launcher binary is setuid root. This binary supports the --log option, which accepts a path as an argument. This parameter is not sanitized, which allows a local unprivileged user to overwrite arbitrary files owned by any user on the system, including root. This creates a denial of service condition and possible data loss if leveraged by a malicious local user.

  • LOW
  • LOCAL
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • LOW
  • NONE
  • HIGH

CWE-59 - Improper Link Resolution Before File Access

'Improper link resolution before file access' occurs when software accesses a file resource but fails to verify that the file isn't a link or shortcut to another file. An attacker can potentially gain access to arbitrary files and from there the impact can vary, depending on the application, from sensitive data exposure to remote code execution.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published