CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2017-16516

Use of Externally-Controlled Format String

Published: Nov 03, 2017 | Modified: Aug 05, 2023
CVSS 3.x
7.5
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.x
5 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
7.5 MODERATE
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Ubuntu
LOW

In the yajl-ruby gem 1.3.0 for Ruby, when a crafted JSON file is supplied to Yajl::Parser.new.parse, the whole ruby process crashes with a SIGABRT in the yajl_string_decode function in yajl_encode.c. This results in the whole ruby process terminating and potentially a denial of service.

Weakness

The product uses a function that accepts a format string as an argument, but the format string originates from an external source.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Yajl-ruby Yajl-ruby_project 1.3.0 (including) 1.3.0 (including)
Ruby-yajl Ubuntu artful *
Ruby-yajl Ubuntu esm-apps/xenial *
Ruby-yajl Ubuntu trusty *
Ruby-yajl Ubuntu upstream *
Ruby-yajl Ubuntu xenial *
Ruby-yajl Ubuntu zesty *
Yajl Ubuntu artful *
Yajl Ubuntu bionic *
Yajl Ubuntu cosmic *
Yajl Ubuntu disco *
Yajl Ubuntu eoan *
Yajl Ubuntu esm-infra/bionic *
Yajl Ubuntu esm-infra/xenial *
Yajl Ubuntu focal *
Yajl Ubuntu groovy *
Yajl Ubuntu hirsute *
Yajl Ubuntu impish *
Yajl Ubuntu jammy *
Yajl Ubuntu kinetic *
Yajl Ubuntu lunar *
Yajl Ubuntu precise/esm *
Yajl Ubuntu trusty *
Yajl Ubuntu trusty/esm *
Yajl Ubuntu upstream *
Yajl Ubuntu xenial *
Yajl Ubuntu zesty *

Extended Description

When an attacker can modify an externally-controlled format string, this can lead to buffer overflows, denial of service, or data representation problems. It should be noted that in some circumstances, such as internationalization, the set of format strings is externally controlled by design. If the source of these format strings is trusted (e.g. only contained in library files that are only modifiable by the system administrator), then the external control might not itself pose a vulnerability.

Potential Mitigations

References