(PT-2013-01) Positive Technologies Security Advisory
XML External Entity Injection in GNOME

Vulnerable software

GNOME
Version 3.8.1 and earlier

Application link:
http://www.gnome.org

Severity level

Severity level: Medium
Impact: Internal Network Resources Access, File System Access
Access Vector: Local  

CVSS v2: 
Base Score: 6.6 
Vector: (AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:C)

CVE: N/A

Software description

GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system.

Vulnerability description

Positive Research Center experts have detected a local resources access vulnerability (files and internal network resources) via  XML External Entity enabled in GNOME.

An attacker is able to give a user a specially crafted file. If he or she views a folder with the file or opens it, librsvg sends local resource's contents  to the attacker's server.

How to fix

Update your software up to the latest version.

Advisory status

14.01.2013 - Vendor gets vulnerability details
16.05.2013 - Vendor releases fixed version and details
20.06.2013 - Public disclosure

Credits

This vulnerability have discovered by Timur Yunusov and Alexey Osipov, Positive Research Center (Positive Technologies Company)

References

http://en.securitylab.ru/lab/PT-2013-01

Reports on the vulnerabilities previously discovered by Positive Research:

http://ptsecurity.com/research/advisory/
http://en.securitylab.ru/lab/

About Positive Technologies

Positive Technologies www.ptsecurity.com is among the key players in the IT security market in Russia.

The principal activities of the company include the development of integrated tools for information security monitoring (MaxPatrol); providing IT security consulting services and technical support; development of the Securitylab leading Russian information security portal.

Among the clients of Positive Technologies, there are more than 40 state enterprises, more than 50 banks and financial organizations, 20 telecommunication companies, more than 40 plant facilities, as well as IT, service and retail companies from Russia, the CIS countries, the Baltic States, China, Ecuador, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Iran, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Republic of South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and the USA.

Positive Technologies is a team of highly skilled developers, advisers and experts with years of vast hands-on experience. The company specialists possess professional titles and certificates; they are the members of various international societies and are actively involved in the IT security field development.