GHSA-9jxc-qjr9-vjxq

Suggest an improvement
Source
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-9jxc-qjr9-vjxq
Import Source
https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2024/07/GHSA-9jxc-qjr9-vjxq/GHSA-9jxc-qjr9-vjxq.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/GHSA-9jxc-qjr9-vjxq
Aliases
Related
Published
2024-07-09T17:48:21Z
Modified
2024-07-12T19:20:30Z
Severity
  • 7.5 (High) CVSS_V3 - CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H CVSS Calculator
  • 7.7 (High) CVSS_V4 - CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N CVSS Calculator
Summary
electron-updater Code Signing Bypass on Windows
Details

Observations

The file packages/electron-updater/src/windowsExecutableCodeSignatureVerifier.ts implements the signature validation routine for Electron applications on Windows. It executes the following command in a new shell (process.env.ComSpec on Windows, usually C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe):

https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/blob/140e2f0eb0df79c2a46e35024e96d0563355fc89/packages/electron-updater/src/windowsExecutableCodeSignatureVerifier.ts#L35-L41

Because of the surrounding shell, a first pass by cmd.exe expands any environment variable found in command-line above.

Exploitation

This creates a situation where verifySignature() can be tricked into validating the certificate of a different file than the one that was just downloaded. If the step is successful, the malicious update will be executed even if its signature is invalid.

Impact

This attack assumes a compromised update manifest (server compromise, Man-in-the-Middle attack if fetched over HTTP, Cross-Site Scripting to point the application to a malicious updater server, etc.).

Patch

This vulnerability was patched in #8295, by comparing the path in the output of Get-AuthenticodeSignature with the intended one. The patch is available starting from 6.3.0-alpha.6.

Database specific
{
    "nvd_published_at": "2024-07-09T18:15:10Z",
    "severity": "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed_at": "2024-07-09T17:48:21Z",
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "cwe_ids": [
        "CWE-154",
        "CWE-295"
    ]
}
References

Affected packages

npm / electron-updater

Package

Affected ranges

Type
SEMVER
Events
Introduced
0Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected
Fixed
6.3.0-alpha.6

Database specific

{
    "last_known_affected_version_range": "<= 6.3.0-alpha.5"
}