#VU82944 UNIX symbolic link following in Salt - CVE-2023-34049

Vulnerability identifier: #VU82944

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 5.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2023-34049

CWE-ID: CWE-61

Exploitation vector: Local

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Salt
Web applications / Remote management & hosting panels

Vendor: SaltStack

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on the system.

The vulnerability exists due to a symlink following issue in Salt-SSH pre-flight option. A local user can create a specially crafted symbolic link to an empty file on the system, wait for the salt to create the file for further execution, update the symbolic link and point it to another file that is under attacker's control and execute the file with root privileges.

Mitigation
Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Salt: 3005, 3005.1, 3005.2, 3005.3, 3006.0, 3006.1, 3006.2, 3006.3

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External links
https://saltproject.io/security-announcements/2023-10-27-advisory/

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.