CVE-2009-1143

An issue was discovered in open-vm-tools 2009.03.18-154848. Local users can bypass intended access restrictions on mounting shares via a symlink attack that leverages a realpath race condition in mount.vmhgfs (aka hgfsmounter).

Weakness

The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
• Denying access to a file can prevent an attacker from replacing that file with a link to a sensitive file. Ensure good compartmentalization in the system to provide protected areas that can be trusted.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/132.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/17.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/35.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/76.html

References

• https://bugs.gentoo.org/264577
• https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools/releases/tag/2009.03.18-154848