Archive for June, 2009

HyperVM Vulnerabilities

Sunday, June 7th, 2009

This morning, I woke up to this.

[11:15:39] <@nenolod> #####################################################################
[11:15:39] <@nenolod> # ISSUE #11 - metachar injection, local command execution as root
[11:15:39] <@nenolod> #####################################################################
[11:15:39] <@nenolod> Local users can execute any command(s) of their choice as root via
[11:15:40] <@nenolod> metacharacter injection in the backup initial string.
[11:15:40] <@nenolod> 1. Log into Kloxo
[11:15:41] <@nenolod> 2. Click "Backup Home"
[11:15:41] <@nenolod> 3. In the box titled "Backup File Initial String", enter:
[11:15:42] <@nenolod> ; /bin/touch /tmp/i_am_root ;
[11:15:42] <@nenolod> 4. Click "Backup Now"
[11:15:43] <@nenolod> Observe:
[11:15:43] <@nenolod> [user1@testing574 user1]$ ls -l /tmp/i_am_root
[11:15:44] <@nenolod> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 20 21:50 /tmp/i_am_root

So basically the jist of it is.

  1. You have a VPS that uses HyperVM (which means close to all VPS companies out there).
  2. Someone else on the same HyperVM installation finds out about this.
  3. They root the physical box.
  4. ???
  5. PROFIT! (for the hacker)

I for one have backed up all the (important) shit that I had stored on any HyperVM based VPSes, and I recommend you do the same.

The full vulnerability report is located at http://www.milw0rm.com/exploits/8880.