CVE-2024-43378 calamares-nixos-extensions LUKS keyfile exposure regression on legacy BIOS systems
Attackers with local access can read LUKS encryption keys from initrd or disk on specific legacy BIOS NixOS installations, compromising encrypted data.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2024-43378?
CVE-2024-43378 is a high-severity vulnerability in calamares-nixos-extensions, published on 15 Aug 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
calamares-nixos-extensions provides Calamares branding and modules for NixOS, a distribution of GNU/Linux. Users who installed NixOS through the graphical installer who used manual disk partitioning to create a setup where the system was booted via legacy BIOS rather than UEFI; some disk partitions are encrypted; but the partitions containing either `/` or `/boot` are unencrypted; have their LUKS disk encryption key file in plain text either in `/crypto_keyfile.bin`, or in a CPIO archive attached to their NixOS initrd. `nixos-install` is not affected, nor are UEFI installations, nor was the default automatic partitioning configuration on legacy BIOS systems. The problem has been fixed in calamares-nixos-extensions 0.3.17, which was included in NixOS. The current installer images for the NixOS 24.05 and unstable (24.11) channels are unaffected. The fix reached 24.05 at 2024-08-13 20:06:59 UTC, and unstable at 2024-08-15 09:00:20 UTC. Installer images downloaded before those times may be vulnerable. The best solution for affected users is probably to back up their data and do a complete reinstallation. However, the mitigation procedure in GHSA-3rvf-24q2-24ww should work solely for the case where `/` is encrypted but `/boot` is not. If `/` is unencrypted, then the `/crypto_keyfile.bin` file will need to be deleted in addition to the remediation steps in the previous advisory. This issue is a partial regression of CVE-2023-36476 / GHSA-3rvf-24q2-24ww, which was more severe as it applied to the default configuration on BIOS systems.
Weakness: CWE-256
Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-43378?
How do I fix CVE-2024-43378?
No fix has been published for CVE-2024-43378 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2024-43378 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-43378 in the wild and no public exploit code.