CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2019-15547

Use of Externally-Controlled Format String

Published: Aug 26, 2019 | Modified: Aug 29, 2019
CVSS 3.x
7.5
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
CVSS 2.x
6.4 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu
MEDIUM

An issue was discovered in the ncurses crate through 5.99.0 for Rust. There are format string issues in printw functions because C format arguments are mishandled.

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
Ncurses Ncurses_project * 5.99.0 (including)
Rust-ncurses Ubuntu esm-apps/focal *
Rust-ncurses Ubuntu esm-apps/jammy *
Rust-ncurses Ubuntu focal *
Rust-ncurses Ubuntu groovy *
Rust-ncurses Ubuntu hirsute *
Rust-ncurses Ubuntu impish *
Rust-ncurses Ubuntu jammy *
Rust-ncurses Ubuntu kinetic *
Rust-ncurses Ubuntu lunar *

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