CVE-2022-4904
Description
A flaw was found in the c-ares package. The ares_set_sortlist is missing checks about the validity of the input string, which allows a possible arbitrary length stack overflow. This issue may cause a denial of service or a limited impact on confidentiality and integrity.
Statement
The severity of this vulnerability is not important but moderate because exploiting the vulnerability can lead to a disruption of the availability of an application, yet doesn’t compromise data integrity or confidentiality. The opportunity for disruption is further limited due to the requirement that an application allows an attacker to be able to input both untrusted and unvalidated data. Exploiting this flaw requires an application to use the library in such a way that would allow untrusted and unvalidated input to be passed directly to ares_set_sortlist by an attacker. In the event that this is able to occur, the impact to RHEL is limited to a crash of the application due to the protections offered by default in RHEL systems such as Stack Smashing Protection (SSP).
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 Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.6 |
| Attack Vector | Network | Network | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | None | None |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | Low | Low | Low |
| Integrity Impact | Low | Low | Low |
| Availability Impact | High | High | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability
Technical Impact: Read Memory; Modify Memory; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
Buffer overflows often can be used to execute arbitrary code, which is usually outside the scope of a program's implicit security policy. This can often be used to subvert any other security service.
Availability
Technical Impact: Modify Memory; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
Buffer overflows generally lead to crashes. Other attacks leading to lack of availability are possible, including putting the program into an infinite loop.
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