CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2021-32811

Improperly Controlled Modification of Object Prototype Attributes ('Prototype Pollution')

Published: Aug 02, 2021 | Modified: Dec 02, 2022
CVSS 3.x
7.2
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
6.5 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

Zope is an open-source web application server. Zope versions prior to versions 4.6.3 and 5.3 have a remote code execution security issue. In order to be affected, one must use Python 3 for ones Zope deployment, run Zope 4 below version 4.6.3 or Zope 5 below version 5.3, and have the optional Products.PythonScripts add-on package installed. By default, one must have the admin-level Zope Manager role to add or edit Script (Python) objects through the web. Only sites that allow untrusted users to add/edit these scripts through the web are at risk. Zope releases 4.6.3 and 5.3 are not vulnerable. As a workaround, a site administrator can restrict adding/editing Script (Python) objects through the web using the standard Zope user/role permission mechanisms. Untrusted users should not be assigned the Zope Manager role and adding/editing these scripts through the web should be restricted to trusted users only. This is the default configuration in Zope.

Weakness

The product receives input from an upstream component that specifies attributes that are to be initialized or updated in an object, but it does not properly control modifications of attributes of the object prototype.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Accesscontrol Zope 4.0 (including) 4.3 (excluding)
Accesscontrol Zope 5.0 (including) 5.2 (excluding)
Zope Zope 4.0 (including) 4.6.3 (excluding)
Zope Zope 5.0 (including) 5.3 (excluding)

Extended Description

By adding or modifying attributes of an object prototype, it is possible to create attributes that exist on every object, or replace critical attributes with malicious ones. This can be problematic if the product depends on existence or non-existence of certain attributes, or uses pre-defined attributes of object prototype (such as hasOwnProperty, toString or valueOf). This weakness is usually exploited by using a special attribute of objects called proto, constructor or prototype. Such attributes give access to the object prototype. This weakness is often found in code that assigns object attributes based on user input, or merges or clones objects recursively.

Potential Mitigations

References