CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2023-38488

Improper Neutralization of Delimiters

Published: Jul 27, 2023 | Modified: Nov 21, 2024
CVSS 3.x
8.8
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

Kirby is a content management system. A vulnerability in versions prior to 3.5.8.3, 3.6.6.3, 3.7.5.2, 3.8.4.1, and 3.9.6 affects all Kirby sites that might have potential attackers in the group of authenticated Panel users or that allow external visitors to update a Kirby content file (e.g. via a contact or comment form). Kirby sites are not affected if they dont allow write access for untrusted users or visitors.

A field injection in a content storage implementation is a type of vulnerability that allows attackers with content write access to overwrite content fields that the site developer didnt intend to be modified. In a Kirby site this can be used to alter site content, break site behavior or inject malicious data or code. The exact security risk depends on the field type and usage.

Kirby stores content of the site, of pages, files and users in text files by default. The text files use Kirbys KirbyData format where each field is separated by newlines and a line with four dashes (----). When reading a KirbyData file, the affected code first removed the Unicode BOM sequence from the file contents and afterwards split the content into fields by the field separator.

When writing to a KirbyData file, field separators in field data are escaped to prevent user input from interfering with the field structure. However this escaping could be tricked by including a Unicode BOM sequence in a field separator (e.g. --xEFxBBxBF--). When writing, this was not detected as a separator, but because the BOM was removed during reading, it could be abused by attackers to inject other field data into content files.

Because each field can only be defined once per content file, this vulnerability only affects fields in the content file that were defined above the vulnerable user-writable field or not at all. Fields that are defined below the vulnerable field override the injected field content and were therefore already protected.

The problem has been patched in Kirby 3.5.8.3, 3.6.6.3, 3.7.5.2, 3.8.4.1, and 3.9.6. In all of the mentioned releases, the maintainers have fixed the affected code to only remove the Unicode BOM sequence at the beginning of the file. This fixes this vulnerability both for newly written as well as for existing content files.

Weakness

The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes delimiters.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Kirby Getkirby 3.5.0 (including) 3.5.8.3 (excluding)
Kirby Getkirby 3.6.0 (including) 3.6.6.3 (excluding)
Kirby Getkirby 3.7.0 (including) 3.7.5.2 (excluding)
Kirby Getkirby 3.8.0 (including) 3.8.4.1 (excluding)
Kirby Getkirby 3.9.0 (including) 3.9.6 (excluding)

Potential Mitigations

  • Assume all input is malicious. Use an “accept known good” input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
  • When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, “boat” may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as “red” or “blue.”
  • Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code’s environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.

References