Arduino IDE is an integrated development environment. Prior to version 2.3.7, Arduino IDE for macOS is installed with world-writable file permissions on sensitive application components, allowing any local user to replace legitimate files with malicious code. When another user launches the application, the malicious code executes with that users privileges, enabling privilege escalation and unauthorized access to sensitive data. The fix is included starting from the 2.3.7 release.
Weakness
During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.
Potential Mitigations
- Compartmentalize the system to have “safe” areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area.
- Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide the appropriate time to use privileges and the time to drop privileges.
References