CVE-2014-2525

Description

A heap based buffer overflow exists in the libyaml package such that an attacker by supplying a specially crafted yaml document when parsed by the application might result in remote code execution leading to complete compromise of the system.

Statement

Redhat satellite does not ship libyaml package but instead consumes the package from the RHEL distribution which is why it has been marked as not affected.

Mitigation

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options don't meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v2 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score6.86.8N/A
Attack VectorNetworkNetworkN/A
Access ComplexityMediumMediumN/A
AuthenticationNoneNoneN/A
Confidentiality ImpactPartialPartialN/A
Integrity ImpactPartialPartialN/A
Availability ImpactPartialPartialN/A

Vector

Red Hat: AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

NVD: AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)

Buffer overflows generally lead to crashes. Other attacks leading to lack of availability are possible, including putting the program into an infinite loop.

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Modify Memory

Buffer overflows often can be used to execute arbitrary code, which is usually outside the scope of a program's implicit security policy. Besides important user data, heap-based overflows can be used to overwrite function pointers that may be living in memory, pointing it to the attacker's code. Even in applications that do not explicitly use function pointers, the run-time will usually leave many in memory. For example, object methods in C++ are generally implemented using function pointers. Even in C programs, there is often a global offset table used by the underlying runtime.

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control,Other

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Other

When the consequence is arbitrary code execution, this can often be used to subvert any other security service.

Acknowledgements

Red Hat would like to thank oCERT for reporting this issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.