CVE-2024-9050

A flaw was found in the libreswan client plugin for NetworkManager (NetkworkManager-libreswan), where it fails to properly sanitize the VPN configuration from the local unprivileged user. In this configuration, composed by a key-value format, the plugin fails to escape special characters, leading the application to interpret values as keys. One of the most critical parameters that could be abused by a malicious user is the leftupdownkey. This key takes an executable command as a value and is used to specify what executes as a callback in NetworkManager-libreswan to retrieve configuration settings back to NetworkManager. As NetworkManager uses Polkit to allow an unprivileged user to control the systems network configuration, a malicious actor could achieve local privilege escalation and potential code execution as root in the targeted machine by creating a malicious configuration.

Weakness

The product constructs all or part of a code segment using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the syntax or behavior of the intended code segment.

Affected Software

Name	Vendor	Start Version	End Version
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 Advanced Update Support	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.4-4.el7_7	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.4-4.el7_9	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.10-7.el8_10	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Advanced Update Support	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.10-6.el8_2	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.10-6.el8_4	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Telecommunications Update Service	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.10-6.el8_4	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Update Services for SAP Solutions	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.10-6.el8_4	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.10-6.el8_6	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Telecommunications Update Service	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.10-6.el8_6	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Update Services for SAP Solutions	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.10-6.el8_6	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Extended Update Support	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.10-6.el8_8	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.22-4.el9_5	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 Update Services for SAP Solutions	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.14-3.el9_0	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Extended Update Support	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.14-6.el9_2	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 Extended Update Support	RedHat	NetworkManager-libreswan-0:1.2.18-6.el9_4	*

Potential Mitigations

Run your code in a “jail” or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict which code can be executed by your product.
Examples include the Unix chroot jail and AppArmor. In general, managed code may provide some protection.
This may not be a feasible solution, and it only limits the impact to the operating system; the rest of your application may still be subject to compromise.
Be careful to avoid CWE-243 and other weaknesses related to jails.
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.
To reduce the likelihood of code injection, use stringent allowlists that limit which constructs are allowed. If you are dynamically constructing code that invokes a function, then verifying that the input is alphanumeric might be insufficient. An attacker might still be able to reference a dangerous function that you did not intend to allow, such as system(), exec(), or exit().
For Python programs, it is frequently encouraged to use the ast.literal_eval() function instead of eval, since it is intentionally designed to avoid executing code. However, an adversary could still cause excessive memory or stack consumption via deeply nested structures [REF-1372], so the python documentation discourages use of ast.literal_eval() on untrusted data [REF-1373].

NVD	https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-9050
CWE	https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/94.html

Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')

Weakness

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

References

CVE-2024-9050

Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')

Weakness

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

Related Attack Patterns

References