Arvados is an open source platform for managing, processing, and sharing genomic and other large scientific and biomedical data. A remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in the Arvados Workbench allows authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code via specially crafted JSON payloads. This exists in all versions up to 2.4.1 and is fixed in 2.4.2. This vulnerability is specific to the Ruby on Rails Workbench application (“Workbench 1”). We do not believe any other Arvados components, including the TypesScript browser-based Workbench application (“Workbench 2”) or API Server, are vulnerable to this attack. For versions of Arvados earlier than 2.4.2: remove the Ruby-based Workbench 1 app (apt-get remove arvados-workbench) from your installation as a workaround.
The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid.
Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
---|---|---|---|
Arvados | Arvados | * | 2.4.2 (excluding) |
It is often convenient to serialize objects for communication or to save them for later use. However, deserialized data or code can often be modified without using the provided accessor functions if it does not use cryptography to protect itself. Furthermore, any cryptography would still be client-side security – which is a dangerous security assumption. Data that is untrusted can not be trusted to be well-formed. When developers place no restrictions on “gadget chains,” or series of instances and method invocations that can self-execute during the deserialization process (i.e., before the object is returned to the caller), it is sometimes possible for attackers to leverage them to perform unauthorized actions, like generating a shell.