CVE-2021-36770

Description

A flaw was found in perl-Encode, where the Perl5 Encode module loaded modules within the current directory. This flaw allows an attacker with write access to the current directory of a Perl5 process to inject arbitrary Perl code when this module is loaded, which can be used for a local privilege escalation. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality, integrity, as well as system availability.

Statement

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and 8 (including Software Collection) provide older versions of Perl and the Encode library, which are not affected by this flaw.

Mitigation

Red Hat has investigated whether a possible mitigation exists for this issue, and has not been able to identify a practical example. Please update the affected package as soon as possible.

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).

The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score7.87.8N/A
Attack VectorLocalLocalN/A
Attack ComplexityLowLowN/A
Privileges RequiredLowNoneN/A
User InteractionNoneRequiredN/A
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedN/A
ConfidentialityHighHighN/A
Integrity ImpactHighHighN/A
Availability ImpactHighHighN/A

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control

Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

There is the potential for arbitrary code execution with privileges of the vulnerable program.

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

The program could be redirected to the wrong files, potentially triggering a crash or hang when the targeted file is too large or does not have the expected format.

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Read Files or Directories

The program could send the output of unauthorized files to the attacker.

Acknowledgements

Upstream acknowledges rjbs (perl security team) as the original reporter.

Frequently Asked Questions

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