CVE-2011-3871 Puppet uses predictable filenames, allowing arbitrary file overwrite

What is CVE-2011-3871?

CVE-2011-3871 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 27 Oct 2011. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

Puppet 2.7.x before 2.7.5, 2.6.x before 2.6.11, and 0.25.x, when running in --edit mode, uses a predictable file name, which allows local users to run arbitrary Puppet code or trick a user into editing arbitrary files.

Weakness: CWE-264

Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-3871?

4 open source packages ship an affected version, including puppet. It affects 2 products.

Products include Puppet Puppet, Puppetlabs Puppet.

How do I fix CVE-2011-3871?

Upgrade puppet to a fixed version for your release line: 2.6.11 or 2.7.5.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2011-3871 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-3871 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in n/a

• CVE-2016-2785 Puppet Improper Access Control Critical 9.8
• CVE-2021-27021 SQL injection in Puppet DB High 8.8
• CVE-2018-6513 Privilege escalation in Puppet Enterprise and Puppet Agent High 8.8
• CVE-2018-6514 Privilege escalation in Puppet Agent High 7.8
• CVE-2018-6515 Code injection in Puppet Agent High 7.8

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2011-3871, GHSA-mpmx-gm5v-q789.