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xml2rfc has file inclusion irregularities

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Feb 7, 2025 in ietf-tools/xml2rfc • Updated Feb 7, 2025

Package

pip xml2rfc (pip)

Affected versions

>= 3.12.0, < 3.27.0

Patched versions

3.27.0

Description

Version 3.12.0 changed xml2rfc so that it would not access local files without the presence of its new --allow-local-file-access flag.
This prevented XML External Entity (XXE) injection attacks with xinclude and XML entity references.

It was discovered that xml2rfc does not respect --allow-local-file-access when a local file is specified as src in artwork or sourcecode elements. Furthermore, XML entity references can include any file inside the source dir and below without using the --allow-local-file-access flag.

The xml2rfc <= 3.26.0 behaviour:

xinclude XML entity reference artwork src= sourcecode src=
without --allow-local-file-access flag No filesystem access Any file in xml2rfc templates dir and below, any file in source directory and below Access source directory and below Access source directory and below
with --allow-local-file-access flag Access any file on filesystem1 Access any file on filesystem1 Access source directory and below Access source directory and below

Impact

Anyone running xml2rfc as a service that accepts input from external users is impacted by this issue.
Specifying a file in src attribute in artwork or sourcecode elements will cause the contents of that file to appear in xml2rfc’s output results.
But that file has to be inside the same directory as the XML input source file.
For artwork and sourcecode, xml2rfc will not look above the source file directory.

The proposed new behaviour

  • Generalize file access checks.
  • Only allow access to files within src dir and below. (xml entity include can access templates dir).
  • Always allow access to templates_dir for XML entity includes.

New behaviour:

xinclude XML entity reference artwork src= sourcecode src=
without --allow-local-file-access flag No filesystem access No filesystem access (except for templates_dir) No filesystem access No filesystem access
with --allow-local-file-access flag Access source directory and below Access source directory and below (Can accesstemplates_dir). Access source directory and below Access source directory and below

Workarounds

Use a secure temporary directory to process un-trusted XML files, and do not reuse it for processing other XML documents.

References

Footnotes

  1. Access any file of the filesystem with the permissions of the user running xml2rfc can access. ↩ ↩2

@kesara kesara published to ietf-tools/xml2rfc Feb 7, 2025
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Feb 7, 2025
Reviewed Feb 7, 2025
Last updated Feb 7, 2025

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements None
Privileges Required None
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality Low
Integrity None
Availability None
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

No known CVE

GHSA ID

GHSA-432c-wxpg-m4q3

Source code

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