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Medium · 6.0 CVE-2023-35936 EUVD-2023-39920GHSA-xj5q-fv23-575gHSEC-2023-0014

Arbitrary file write is possible in Pandoc when using PDF output or --extract-media with untrusted input

Published Jul 5, 2023 · Updated Feb 13, 2025 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Description

Pandoc is a Haskell library for converting from one markup format to another, and a command-line tool that uses this library. Starting in version 1.13 and prior to version 3.1.4, Pandoc is susceptible to an arbitrary file write vulnerability, which can be triggered by providing a specially crafted image element in the input when generating files using the `--extract-media` option or outputting to PDF format. This vulnerability allows an attacker to create or overwrite arbitrary files on the system ,depending on the privileges of the process running pandoc. It only affects systems that pass untrusted user input to pandoc and allow pandoc to be used to produce a PDF or with the `--extract-media` option.

The fix is to unescape the percent-encoding prior to checking that the resource is not above the working directory, and prior to extracting the extension. Some code for checking that the path is below the working directory was flawed in a similar way and has also been fixed. Note that the `--sandbox` option, which only affects IO done by readers and writers themselves, does not block this vulnerability. The vulnerability is patched in pandoc 3.1.4. As a workaround, audit the pandoc command and disallow PDF output and the `--extract-media` option.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
jgm pandoc >= 1.13, < 3.1.4 —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 haskell-pandoc 3.0.1-2 —
Debian 14 pandoc 2.17.1.1-2 —
Debian 13 haskell-pandoc 3.0.1-2 —
Debian 13 pandoc 2.17.1.1-2 —
Debian 12 pandoc 2.17.1.1-2~deb12u1 —
Debian 10 pandoc 2.2.1-3+deb10u1 DLA-3507-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 pandoc No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS pandoc No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.10 pandoc No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS pandoc No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS pandoc No fix yet —
Show 4 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS pandoc No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS pandoc No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS pandoc No fix yet —
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS pandoc No fix yet —

Affected packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixedRecord
Hackage pandoc >= 1.13, < 3.1.4 3.1.4 HSEC-2023-0014

Advisories 1

References