CVE-2011-4953 Cobbler vulnerable to code injection via unsafe YAML loading

What is CVE-2011-4953?

CVE-2011-4953 is a medium-severity unsafe deserialization vulnerability in n/a, published on 27 Oct 2014. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The set_mgmt_parameters function in item.py in cobbler before 2.2.2 allows context-dependent attackers to execute arbitrary code via vectors related to the use of the yaml.load function instead of the yaml.safe_load function, as demonstrated using Puppet.

Weakness: CWE-20

Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-4953?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including cobbler. It affects 1 product.

Products include Cobbler Project Cobbler.

How do I fix CVE-2011-4953?

Upgrade cobbler to 2.6.0 or later.

Upgrade, and only deserialise data from trusted sources or with an allow-list of types. More about Unsafe deserialization.

Is CVE-2011-4953 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-4953 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in n/a

• CVE-2021-40323 Cobbler before 3.3.0 allows log poisoning Critical 9.8
• CVE-2018-10931 Cobbler has Exposed Dangerous Method or Function Critical 9.8
• CVE-2017-1000469 Cobbler vulnerable to arbitrary code execution Critical 9.8
• CVE-2022-0860 Improper Authorization in cobbler/cobbler High 8.2
• CVE-2021-45082 Command Injection in Cobbler High 7.8

Sources

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

Also known as GHSA-hpj3-5p46-g87w, PYSEC-2026-793.