CVE-2020-5254 NetHack hilite_status parsing privilege escalation
Out-of-bounds values in the hilite_status option allow attackers to trigger memory corruption, potentially leading to privilege escalation or code execution.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2020-5254?
CVE-2020-5254 is a low-severity memory corruption vulnerability in NetHack, published on 10 Mar 2020. 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
In NetHack before 3.6.6, some out-of-bound values for the hilite_status option can be exploited. NetHack 3.6.6 resolves this issue.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-5254?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Nethack Nethack.
How do I fix CVE-2020-5254?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2020-5254 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5254 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Public exploit code: 1 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Other vulnerabilities in NetHack
- CVE-2019-19905 Memory corruption in n/a
- CVE-2023-24809 NetHack Call command buffer overflow
- CVE-2020-5209 NetHack command line parsing of options starting with -de and -i is subject to a buffer overflow
- CVE-2020-5210 NetHack command line -w option parsing is subject to a buffer overflow
- CVE-2020-5211 NetHack AUTOCOMPLETE configuration file option is subject to a buffer overflow
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2020-5254, GHSA-2ch6-6r8h-m2p9, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-5254.