Overview
This blog post seeks to provide a detailed analysis of the command injection vulnerability identified with the CVE-2025-55294 identifier in the screenshot-desktop software. This vulnerability, which is severe in nature, allows an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on a local machine. The software, widely used for capturing screenshots, becomes a security risk due to lack of input sanitization which could lead to potential system compromise or data leakage. Understanding the implications of this vulnerability and the necessary measures for mitigation is vital to all screenshot-desktop users and system administrators.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-55294
Severity: Critical (CVSS Score: 9.8)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
screenshot-desktop | < 1.15.2 How the Exploit Works
The exploit works by injecting malicious commands via user-controlled input passed into the format option of the screenshot function. Since the screenshot-desktop software fails to sanitize this input, the malicious command is interpolated into a shell command that is subsequently executed with the privileges of the calling process.
Conceptual Example Code
Here is a conceptual example of how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability. This is a simple shell command that includes a malicious payload:
screenshot-desktop --format "$(rm -rf /)"In this example, the command `rm -rf /` is passed as the format option. Since the input is not sanitized, this command is interpolated into a shell command, which when executed, results in the deletion of all files on the system.
Mitigation and Recommendation
To mitigate this vulnerability, users are advised to upgrade to the latest version of screenshot-desktop (1.15.2 or later), where this issue has been fixed. If upgrading is not immediately possible, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can offer temporary mitigation. However, these are not long-term solutions, and users are strongly encouraged to update their software as soon as possible to protect their systems from potential compromise.