CVE-2019-10161 Path traversal in libvirt

High 8.8 Published 30 Jul 2019 Updated 4 Aug 2024

An attacker with socket access can exploit a path traversal flaw in libvirtd to execute arbitrary programs or cause denial of service.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2019-10161?

CVE-2019-10161 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 30 Jul 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

It was discovered that libvirtd before versions 4.10.1 and 5.4.1 would permit read-only clients to use the virDomainSaveImageGetXMLDesc() API, specifying an arbitrary path which would be accessed with the permissions of the libvirtd process. An attacker with access to the libvirtd socket could use this to probe the existence of arbitrary files, cause denial of service or cause libvirtd to execute arbitrary programs.

Weakness: CWE-862, CWE-22, CWE-284

Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-10161?

It affects 5 products.

Linux distribution packages (26)

`libvirt` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-client` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-lock-sanlock` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-python` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-client` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-lock-sanlock` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-python` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-client` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-lock-sanlock` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-python` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-client` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-lock-sanlock` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt-python` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation	All versions	`0:0.10.2-64.el6_10.2`
`libvirt` SUSE:Linux Enterprise Point of Sale 11 SP3	All versions	`1.0.5.9-21.20.1`
`libvirt` SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12-LTSS	All versions	`1.2.5-27.19.1`

Products include Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Redhat Enterprise Linux, Redhat Libvirt, Redhat Virtualization, Redhat Virtualization Host.

How do I fix CVE-2019-10161?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

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

Is CVE-2019-10161 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-10161 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Canonical Ubuntu Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2019-10161, DEBIAN-CVE-2019-10161, GHSA-6cwp-pxj6-56c7, RHSA-2019:1578, SUSE-SU-2019:14100-1, SUSE-SU-2019:1690-1 and 2 more.