CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2013-1976

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

Published: Jul 09, 2013 | Modified: Apr 22, 2019
CVSS 3.x
N/A
Source:
NVD
CVSS 2.x
6.9 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

The (1) tomcat5, (2) tomcat6, and (3) tomcat7 init scripts, as used in the RPM distribution of Tomcat for JBoss Enterprise Web Server 1.0.2 and 2.0.0, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6, allow local users to change the ownership of arbitrary files via a symlink attack on (a) tomcat5-initd.log, (b) tomcat6-initd.log, (c) catalina.out, or (d) tomcat7-initd.log.

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

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Enterprise_linux Redhat 6.0 6.0
Jboss_enterprise_web_server Redhat 1.0.2 1.0.2
Enterprise_linux Redhat 5 5
Jboss_enterprise_web_server Redhat 2.0.0 2.0.0

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.

References