CVE-2024-32462: Flatpak vulnerable to a sandbox escape via RequestBackground portal due to bad argument parsing

Published Apr 18, 2024
·
Updated

Flatpak is a system for building, distributing, and running sandboxed desktop applications on Linux. in versions before 1.10.9, 1.12.9, 1.14.6, and 1.15.8, a malicious or compromised Flatpak app could execute arbitrary code outside its sandbox. Normally, the --command argument of flatpak run expects to be given a command to run in the specified Flatpak app, optionally along with some arguments. However it is possible to instead pass bwrap arguments to --command=, such as --bind. It's possible to pass an arbitrary commandline to the portal interface org.freedesktop.portal.Background.RequestBackground from within a Flatpak app. When this is converted into a --command and arguments, it achieves the same effect of passing arguments directly to bwrap, and thus can be used for a sandbox escape. The solution is to pass the -- argument to bwrap, which makes it stop processing options. This has been supported since bubblewrap 0.3.0. All supported versions of Flatpak require at least that version of bubblewrap. xdg-desktop-portal version 1.18.4 will mitigate this vulnerability by only allowing Flatpak apps to create .desktop files for commands that do not start with --. The vulnerability is patched in 1.15.8, 1.10.9, 1.12.9, and 1.14.6.

Affected Software

10 affected componentsFixes available
redhat/flatpak<1.15.8
1.15.8
redhat/flatpak<1.10.9
1.10.9
redhat/flatpak<1.12.9
1.12.9
redhat/flatpak<1.14.6
1.14.6
Flatpak Flatpak<1.10.9
Flatpak Flatpak>=1.12.0<1.12.9
Flatpak Flatpak>=1.14.0<1.14.6
Flatpak Flatpak>=1.15.0<1.15.8
Fedoraproject Fedora=39
Fedoraproject Fedora=40

Event History

Apr 18, 2024
CVE Published
via MITRE·06:11 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·06:11 PM
DescriptionSeverityWeakness
Data Sourced
via NVD·06:15 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software
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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2024-32462?

CVE-2024-32462 is considered a high severity vulnerability due to its ability to allow arbitrary code execution outside the Flatpak sandbox.

2

How do I fix CVE-2024-32462?

To fix CVE-2024-32462, update your Flatpak installation to version 1.15.8, 1.14.6, 1.12.9, or 1.10.9.

3

Which versions of Flatpak are affected by CVE-2024-32462?

CVE-2024-32462 affects Flatpak versions before 1.10.9, 1.12.9, 1.14.6, and 1.15.8.

4

What impact does CVE-2024-32462 have on Flatpak applications?

CVE-2024-32462 allows a malicious or compromised Flatpak app to execute arbitrary commands outside its intended sandbox environment.

5

How can I verify if my Flatpak version is vulnerable to CVE-2024-32462?

You can verify if your Flatpak version is vulnerable to CVE-2024-32462 by checking if it is below version 1.10.9, 1.12.9, 1.14.6, or 1.15.8.

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