CVE-2019-14869

A flaw was found in all versions of ghostscript 9.x before 9.50, where the .charkeys procedure, where it did not properly secure its privileged calls, enabling scripts to bypass -dSAFER restrictions. An attacker could abuse this flaw by creating a specially crafted PostScript file that could escalate privileges within the Ghostscript and access files outside of restricted areas or execute commands.

Weakness

The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Run the code in a “jail” or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict which files can be accessed in a particular directory or which commands can be executed by the software.
• OS-level examples include the Unix chroot jail, AppArmor, and SELinux. In general, managed code may provide some protection. For example, java.io.FilePermission in the Java SecurityManager allows the software to specify restrictions on file operations.
• This may not be a feasible solution, and it only limits the impact to the operating system; the rest of the application may still be subject to compromise.
• Be careful to avoid CWE-243 and other weaknesses related to jails.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/1.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/122.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/127.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/17.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/180.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/206.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/234.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/60.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/61.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/62.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/642.html

References

• http://jvn.jp/en/jp/JVN52486659/index.html
• http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00049.html
• http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00050.html
• http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/11/15/1
• https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:0222
• https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=701841
• https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-14869
• https://git.ghostscript.com/?p=ghostpdl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=485904772c5f
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2Q4E3OTDAJRSUCOBTDQO7Y5UTE2FFMLF/
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HC4REO73BEJOJAU7NHFHJECAUAYJUE3H/
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IX55AEDERTDFEZAROKZW64MZRPLINEGI/
• https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Nov/27