Weakness (CWE)
CWE-78: OS Command Injection
The product constructs all or part of an OS command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended OS command before it is sent to a downstream component.
How to prevent it (8 mitigations)
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Architecture and Design
If at all possible, use library calls rather than external processes to recreate the desired functionality.
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Architecture and Design, Operation
Run the code in a "jail" or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict which files can be accessed in a particular directory or which commands can be executed by the software.
OS-level examples include the Unix chroot jail, AppArmor, and SELinux. In general, managed code may provide some protection. For example, java.io.FilePermission in the Java SecurityManager allows the software to specify restrictions on file operations.
This may not be a feasible solution, and it only limits the impact to the operating system; the rest of the application may still be subject to compromise.
Be careful to avoid CWE-243 and other weaknesses related to jails.
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Architecture and Design
For any data that will be used to generate a command to be executed, keep as much of that data out of external control as possible. For example, in web applications, this may require storing the data locally in the session's state instead of sending it out to the client in a hidden form field.
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Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks entirely. Then, these modified values would be submitted to the server.
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Architecture and Design
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
For example, consider using the ESAPI Encoding control [REF-45] or a similar tool, library, or framework. These will help the programmer encode outputs in a manner less prone to error.
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Implementation
While it is risky to use dynamically-generated query strings, code, or commands that mix control and data together, sometimes it may be unavoidable. Properly quote arguments and escape any special characters within those arguments. The most conservative approach is to escape or filter all characters that do not pass an extremely strict allowlist (such as everything that is not alphanumeric or white space). If some special characters are still needed, such as white space, wrap each argument in quotes after the escaping/filtering step. Be careful of argument injection (CWE-88).
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Implementation
If the program to be executed allows arguments to be specified within an input file or from standard input, then consider using that mode to pass arguments instead of the command line.
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Architecture and Design
If available, use structured mechanisms that automatically enforce the separation between data and code. These mechanisms may be able to provide the relevant quoting, encoding, and validation automatically, instead of relying on the developer to provide this capability at every point where output is generated.
Some languages offer multiple functions that can be used to invoke commands. Where possible, identify any function that invokes a command shell using a single string, and replace it with a function that requires individual arguments. These functions typically perform appropriate quoting and filtering of arguments. For example, in C, the system() function accepts a string that contains the entire command to be executed, whereas execl(), execve(), and others require an array of strings, one for each argument. In Windows, CreateProcess() only accepts one command at a time. In Perl, if system() is provided with an array of arguments, then it will quote each of the arguments.
Source: MITRE CWE-78
931 results · Clear filters · Feed
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Medium 6.7
Cisco NX-OS Software Line Card Command Injection Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker with administrator credentials to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying Linux operating system of an attached line card with the privilege level of root. Th…
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Medium 4.2
Cisco NX-OS Software Command Injection Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker with administrator credentials to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying Linux operating system with the privilege level of root. The vulnerability is due to…
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Medium 6.4
Cisco NX-OS Software Remote Package Manager Command Injection Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the Remote Package Manager (RPM) subsystem of Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker with administrator credentials to leverage a time-of-check, time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition to corrupt local variables, whic…
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Medium 6.0
Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software Command Injection Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform a command injection attack. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerabi…
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Medium 6.7
Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software Command Injection Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform a command injection attack. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerabi…
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Medium 5.5
Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers Local Management CLI Arbitrary File Creation or CLI Parameter Injection Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the local management CLI implementation for specific commands on the Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers could allow an authenticated, local attacker to overwrite an arbitrary file on disk. It is also possible the attacker could inject CLI com…
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Medium 6.5
SMB printer settings don't escape characters in passwords properly
In yast2-printer up to and including version 4.0.2 the SMB printer settings don't escape characters in passwords properly. If a password with backticks or simliar characters is supplied this allows for executing code as root. This requires tricking root to en…
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Medium 6.7
Code execution if run with command line switch -v
If supportutils before version 3.1-5.7.1 is run with -v to perform rpm verification and the attacker manages to manipulate the rpm listing (e.g. with CVE-2018-19638) he can execute arbitrary commands as root.
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Medium 5.9
Kubernetes Arbitrary Command Injection
In Kubernetes versions 1.9.0-1.9.9, 1.10.0-1.10.5, and 1.11.0-1.11.1, user input was handled insecurely while setting up volume mounts on Windows nodes, which could lead to command line argument injection.
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Medium —
Cocaine Gem OS Command Injection vulnerability
The Cocaine gem 0.4.0 through 0.5.2 for Ruby allows context-dependent attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted has object, related to recursive variable interpolation.
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Medium —
Puppet Arbitrary Command Execution
Puppet 2.6.x before 2.6.15 and 2.7.x before 2.7.13, and Puppet Enterprise (PE) Users 1.0, 1.1, 1.2.x, 2.0.x, and 2.5.x before 2.5.1 allows remote authenticated users with agent SSL keys and file-creation permissions on the puppet master to execute arbitrary c…