#VU9720 Heap-based buffer over-read in Rsync - CVE-2017-16548

Vulnerability identifier: #VU9720

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 2.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2017-16548

CWE-ID: CWE-126

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Rsync
Server applications / Other server solutions

Vendor: Samba

Description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause DoS condition on the target system.

The weakness exists due to the receive_xattr function in xattrs.c does not check for a trailing '' character in an xattr name. A remote attacker can send specially crafted data to the daemon, trigger heap-based buffer over-read and cause the application to crash.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Rsync: 3.1.2 - 3.1.3

---

External links
https://git.samba.org/rsync.git/?p=rsync.git;a=commit;h=47a63d90e71d3e19e0e96052bb8c6b9cb140ecc1

---

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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