Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2024-53142

high Nessus Plugin ID 231703

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: initramfs: avoid filename buffer overrun The initramfs filename field is defined in Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/buffer- format.rst as: 37 cpio_file := ALGN(4) + cpio_header + filename + \0 + ALGN(4) + data ... 55 ============= ================== ========================= 56 Field name Field size Meaning 57 ============= ================== ========================= ... 70 c_namesize 8 bytes Length of filename, including final \0 When extracting an initramfs cpio archive, the kernel's do_name() path handler assumes a zero-terminated path at @collected, passing it directly to filp_open() / init_mkdir() / init_mknod(). If a specially crafted cpio entry carries a non-zero-terminated filename and is followed by uninitialized memory, then a file may be created with trailing characters that represent the uninitialized memory. The ability to create an initramfs entry would imply already having full control of the system, so the buffer overrun shouldn't be considered a security vulnerability. Append the output of the following bash script to an existing initramfs and observe any created /initramfs_test_fname_overrunAA* path. E.g.
./reproducer.sh | gzip >> /myinitramfs It's easiest to observe non-zero uninitialized memory when the output is gzipped, as it'll overflow the heap allocated @out_buf in __gunzip(), rather than the initrd_start+initrd_size block. ---- reproducer.sh ---- nilchar=A # change to \0 to properly zero terminate / pad magic=070701 ino=1 mode=$(( 0100777 )) uid=0 gid=0 nlink=1 mtime=1 filesize=0 devmajor=0 devminor=1 rdevmajor=0 rdevminor=0 csum=0 fname=initramfs_test_fname_overrun namelen=$(( ${#fname} + 1 )) # plus one to account for terminator printf %s%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%08x%s \ $magic $ino $mode $uid $gid $nlink $mtime $filesize \ $devmajor $devminor $rdevmajor $rdevminor $namelen $csum $fname termpadlen=$(( 1 + ((4 - ((110 + $namelen) & 3)) % 4) )) printf %.s${nilchar} $(seq 1 $termpadlen) ---- reproducer.sh ---- Symlink filename fields handled in do_symlink() won't overrun past the data segment, due to the explicit zero-termination of the symlink target. Fix filename buffer overrun by aborting the initramfs FSM if any cpio entry doesn't carry a zero-terminator at the expected (name_len
- 1) offset. (CVE-2024-53142)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 231703

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2024_53142.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 3/6/2025

Updated: 3/6/2025

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.8

Temporal Score: 5

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2024-53142

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 6.8

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

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

Vulnerability Information

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/6/2024

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2024-53142

Detections

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