CVE-2016-5424

Description

A flaw was found in the way PostgreSQL client programs handled database and role names containing newlines, carriage returns, double quotes, or backslashes. By crafting such an object name, roles with the CREATEDB or CREATEROLE option could escalate their privileges to superuser when a superuser next executes maintenance with a vulnerable client program.

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 v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score7.67.1N/A
Attack VectorNetworkNetworkN/A
Attack ComplexityHighHighN/A
Privileges RequiredHighLowN/A
User InteractionRequiredRequiredN/A
ScopeChangedUnchangedN/A
ConfidentialityHighHighN/A
Integrity ImpactHighHighN/A
Availability ImpactHighHighN/A

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

NVD: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Availability

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

An attacker could provide unexpected values and cause a program crash or arbitrary control of resource allocation, leading to excessive consumption of resources such as memory and CPU.

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Read Memory; Read Files or Directories

An attacker could read confidential data if they are able to control resource references.

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability

Technical Impact: Modify Memory; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

An attacker could use malicious input to modify data or possibly alter control flow in unexpected ways, including arbitrary command execution.

Acknowledgements

Red Hat would like to thank the PostgreSQL project for reporting this issue. Upstream acknowledges Nathan Bossart as the original reporter.

Frequently Asked Questions

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