CVE-2024-52522

Rclone is a command-line program to sync files and directories to and from different cloud storage providers. Insecure handling of symlinks with –links and –metadata in rclone while copying to local disk allows unprivileged users to indirectly modify ownership and permissions on symlink target files when a superuser or privileged process performs a copy. This vulnerability could enable privilege escalation and unauthorized access to critical system files, compromising system integrity, confidentiality, and availability. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.68.2.

Weakness

The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

Potential Mitigations

• Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
• Denying access to a file can prevent an attacker from replacing that file with a link to a sensitive file. Ensure good compartmentalization in the system to provide protected areas that can be trusted.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/132.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/17.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/35.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/76.html

References

• https://github.com/rclone/rclone/commit/01ccf204f42b4f68541b16843292439090a2dcf0
• https://github.com/rclone/rclone/security/advisories/GHSA-hrxh-9w67-g4cv