Re: [+] Vulnerability in less version 394 and prior

[Jonathan Smith <smithj () freethemallocs com>]

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glopeda.com wrote:
> From: glopeda () glopeda com
> Application: less 394 and prior
> Type: Format strings vulnerability
> Priority: Low
>
> There exists a format strings bug in the less application present in
> most flavors of UNIX.  It could be leveraged for privilege escalation
> if the calling application is setuid/setgid and does not properly drop
> privileges.
>
> Meager demonstration:
> $ export LESSOPEN=%s%n
> $ less somefile
> Segmentation fault
> $
>
> See http://www.glopeda.com for more details.


Still some strangeness on the latest version:
smithj@localhost ~ $  export LESSOPEN=%s%n
smithj@localhost ~ $  less route.txt
*** %n in writable segment detected ***
Aborted
smithj@localhost ~ $  conary query less
less=409-1-0.1[is: x86]

Given the details in the original post, I don't think this is a security
issue. If a program doesn't properly shed s{u,g}id bits, that program
should be fixed. This is still a bug, though, so I'm CCing the
maintainer on this email.

        smithj


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