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Debian DLA-3507-1 : pandoc - LTS security update

medium Nessus Plugin ID 178788

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Synopsis

The remote Debian host is missing one or more security-related updates.

Description

The remote Debian 10 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the dla-3507 advisory.

 - Pandoc is a Haskell library for converting from one markup format to another, and a command-line tool that uses this library. Starting in version 1.13 and prior to version 3.1.4, Pandoc is susceptible to an arbitrary file write vulnerability, which can be triggered by providing a specially crafted image element in the input when generating files using the `--extract-media` option or outputting to PDF format. This vulnerability allows an attacker to create or overwrite arbitrary files on the system ,depending on the privileges of the process running pandoc. It only affects systems that pass untrusted user input to pandoc and allow pandoc to be used to produce a PDF or with the `--extract-media` option. The fix is to unescape the percent-encoding prior to checking that the resource is not above the working directory, and prior to extracting the extension. Some code for checking that the path is below the working directory was flawed in a similar way and has also been fixed. Note that the `--sandbox` option, which only affects IO done by readers and writers themselves, does not block this vulnerability. The vulnerability is patched in pandoc 3.1.4. As a workaround, audit the pandoc command and disallow PDF output and the `--extract-media` option.
 (CVE-2023-35936)

 - Pandoc before 3.1.6 allows arbitrary file write: this can be triggered by providing a crafted image element in the input when generating files via the --extract-media option or outputting to PDF format.
 This allows an attacker to create or overwrite arbitrary files, depending on the privileges of the process running Pandoc. It only affects systems that pass untrusted user input to Pandoc and allow Pandoc to be used to produce a PDF or with the --extract-media option. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2023-35936 (failure to properly account for double encoded path names). (CVE-2023-38745)

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Upgrade the pandoc packages.

For Debian 10 buster, these problems have been fixed in version 2.2.1-3+deb10u1.

See Also

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1041976

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/source-package/pandoc

https://www.debian.org/lts/security/2023/dla-3507

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-35936

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-38745

https://packages.debian.org/source/buster/pandoc

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 178788

File Name: debian_DLA-3507.nasl

Version: 1.4

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 7/25/2023

Updated: 4/5/2024

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.6

Temporal Score: 4.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:N/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2023-38745

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.3

Temporal Score: 5.7

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:10.0, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:libghc-pandoc-doc, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:pandoc-data

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/Debian/release, Host/Debian/dpkg-l

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 7/25/2023

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/5/2023

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2023-35936, CVE-2023-38745

IAVB: 2024-B-0030