Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2017-10685: Invisible Island Ncurses: Remote code execution

CVE-2017-10685 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.8 and affects Invisible Island Ncurses. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

In ncurses 6.0, there is a format string vulnerability in the fmt_entry function. A crafted input will lead to a remote arbitrary code execution attack.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.0 9.8: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-134: Use of Externally-Controlled Format String

The product uses a function that accepts a format string as an argument, but the format string originates from an external source.

Affected products

  • Invisible Island Ncurses: 6.0

References