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Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

CVE-2019-18183

High
9.8/10

Summary

pacman before 5.2 is vulnerable to arbitrary command injection in lib/libalpm/sync.c in the apply_deltas() function. This can be exploited when unsigned databases are used. To exploit the vulnerability, the user must enable the non-default delta feature and retrieve an attacker-controlled crafted database and delta file.

  • LOW
  • NETWORK
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • HIGH
  • HIGH

CWE-78 - OS Command Injection

The OS command injection weakness (also known as shell injection) is a vulnerability which enables an attacker to run arbitrary OS commands on a server. This is done by modifying the intended downstream OS command and injecting arbitrary commands, enabling the execution of unauthorized OS commands. This has the potential to fully compromise the application along with all of its data, and, if the compromised process does not follow the principle of least privileges, it may compromise other parts of the hosting infrastructure as well. This weakness is listed as number ten in the 'CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses'.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published