Overview
A critical vulnerability, CVE-2024-48615, has been identified within libarchive 3.7.6 and earlier versions. This vulnerability is present in the bsdtar program, specifically within the function header_pax_extension. A Null Pointer Dereference vulnerability could potentially allow an attacker to compromise the system or cause data leakage, making it a significant threat to any system running the affected versions of libarchive.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2024-48615
Severity: High (CVSS Score: 7.5)
Attack Vector: Local/Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
libarchive | 3.7.6 and earlier
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability arises from a Null Pointer Dereference in the function header_pax_extension within the bsdtar program. An attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted file or request that causes the function to dereference a null pointer, which could lead to unexpected behavior, including system crashes or the execution of malicious code.
Conceptual Example Code
A conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited could involve a maliciously crafted tar archive that triggers the vulnerability when processed by bsdtar. This might look something like the following pseudocode:
$ bsdtar -xf malicious.tarIn this example, “malicious.tar” is a tar archive that has been specially crafted to exploit the Null Pointer Dereference vulnerability in bsdtar. When bsdtar attempts to extract the contents of this archive, it could potentially trigger the vulnerability and cause a system crash or execute arbitrary code.
Mitigation Guidance
To mitigate this vulnerability, it is recommended to apply the vendor patch as soon as it is available. In the interim, the use of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) could provide temporary mitigation. Regular monitoring and auditing of system logs could also aid in the early detection of any potential exploits.
