Subject: [ASA-202001-2] file: arbitrary code execution

Arch Linux Security Advisory ASA-202001-2
=========================================

Severity: High
Date    : 2020-01-09
CVE-ID  : CVE-2019-18218
Package : file
Type    : arbitrary code execution
Remote  : No
Link    : https://security.archlinux.org/AVG-1083

Summary
=======

The package file before version 5.38-1 is vulnerable to arbitrary code
execution.

Resolution
==========

Upgrade to 5.38-1.

# pacman -Syu "file>=5.38-1"

The problem has been fixed upstream in version 5.38.

Workaround
==========

None.

Description
===========

cdf_read_property_info in cdf.c in file through 5.37 does not restrict
the number of CDF_VECTOR elements, which allows a heap-based buffer
overflow (4-byte out-of-bounds write).

Impact
======

An attacker is able to execute arbitrary code on the affected host by
tricking a user to process a specially crafted file via libmagic or
file.

References
==========

https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/64430
https://github.com/file/file/commit/46a8443f76cec4b41ec736eca396984c74664f84	
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/oss-fuzz/issues/detail?id=16780
https://security.archlinux.org/CVE-2019-18218