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Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2022 14:48:47 +0200
From: Matthias Gerstner <mgerstner@...e.de>
To: oss-security@...ts.openwall.com
Subject: firejail: local root exploit reachable via --join logic
(CVE-2022-31214)
Hello list,
the following report describes a local root exploit vulnerability in
Firejail [1] version 0.9.68 (and likely various older versions). Any
source code references in this report are based on the 0.9.68 version
tag in the upstream Git repository.
Introduction
============
Firejail is a setuid-root command line program that allows to execute
programs in isolated sandboxes. The details of execution are controlled
by configuration files and command line switches. The isolation features
are implemented based on Linux namespace mechanisms.
Among the many features of Firejail there exists the possibility to join
an existing Firejail container setup using the `firejail --join=<pid>`
style invocation. This join feature is the attack vector for the
vulnerability described in this report.
Join Logic
==========
Most of the logic behind the join feature is found in the source code
file `src/firejail/join.c`. Critical sections of code are running with
elevated privileges (effective UID 0). The process ID passed as command
line argument is inspected to determine whether it is a Firejail
container and to determine certain of its properties that will be
applied likewise to the newly joining process.
The main criterion for deciding whether joining the target process
succeeds is the presence of a file in the mount namespace of the target
process found at /run/firejail/mnt/join. This check is performed in the
`is_ready_for_join()` function. The file is opened using
`O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC` flags and the follow-up `fstat()` result needs to
fulfil the following requirements:
- the file needs to be a regular file.
- the file needs to be owned by user ID 0 (as seen from the initial user
namespace).
- the file needs to have a size of 1 byte.
Then in a follow-up `read()` call the first byte of the file needs to
equal the ASCII '1' character (`SANDBOX_DONE` preprocessor define in the
source).
If this check succeeds then the various namespaces the target process is
in will be joined and further preparations are made to containerise the
newly joining process.
The Vulnerability
=================
An unprivileged user in the system can fake a legit Firejail process by
providing a symlink at /run/firejail/mnt/join that points to a file that
fulfils the requirements listed in the previous section. By creating a
custom user and mount namespace the attacker can create an environment
of its own where mounting tmpfs file systems in arbitrary locations is
possible. Thus /run/firejail can be made writeable within the separate
mount namespace. Since the `open()` call in `join.c:335` follows
symlinks, the target file can reside anywhere else within the accessible
file system tree. Using bind mounting a suitable "join" file could also
be placed there without using symlinks, though.
A file owned by root that contains a '1' character is not that unlikely
to exist somewhere on the system. If the attacker has local system
access and automounting of removable storage devices is available then
attaching a storage device that contains such a file could also be an
option. Even simpler, however, is using Firejail itself to provide the
file. Creating a Firejail instance without security profiles applied
(switch `--noprofile`) will make its "join" file accessible also from
within the initial mount namespace in the system via its
/proc/<pid>/root entry.
Once a suitable file is staged in a fake Firejail instance, the fake
Firejail process will be basically accepted by Firejail for joining it.
Firejail by default sets the `NO_NEW_PRIVS` `prctl()` for sandboxed
processes. When using `firejail --noprofile` or when faking a Firejail
instance, the setting will not be applied, however. Firejail's join
logic is trusting the target process, and copies this property from it.
Next Firejail will join the target process's namespaces (`join.c:441`),
particularly interesting for this attack, the mount namespace. Then,
after forking a new child process for the join operation, the logic
attempts to drop privileges by joining the target user namespace
(`join.c:497`).
For joining the user namespace not the target process is used but the
init process with PID 1. The consideration behind this is probably that
it is always expected that the Firejail container is running in its own
PID namespace and the init process inside it can be trusted for having
the correct user namespace assigned. In this attack scenario there is no
separate PID namespace, so the initial PID namespace will still be
visible in /proc. Regardless of this the attacker controlled mount
namespace (of which the joining Firejail process already is a member of
by now) can blend in a tmpfs in /proc/1, thereby controlling which user
namespace the Firejail join operation will actually join.
Joining an actual separate user namespace is not what is desired for
this attack (although this could also be interesting for joining
arbitrary other users' containers and sandboxes). The aim of this attack
is not to join any user namespace at all. Attempting to join the initial
user namespace will fail, because joining the current user namespace
again is denied by the kernel. To avoid this, a symlink can be placed in
/proc/1/ns/user that points to an arbitrary different namespace object.
In this example the symlink will point to the *time* namespace of the
current process. Joining the time namespace will succeed and Firejail
will not detect an error.
The resulting "joined" shell will now live in the initial user
namespace, holding still the original normal user privileges, however
the mount namespace will be the one controlled by the attacker. Since
the nonewprivs setting has not been applied, the attacker is now able to
run setuid-root programs within this mount namespace. From here on all
that needs to be done is changing file system contents in a way that
typical setuid-root binaries like `su` or `sudo` will grant full root
privileges. The attached proof of concept exploit I wrote for this
vulnerability does this by replacing the PAM stack configuration.
Workarounds / Mitigations
=========================
System administrators can mitigate this vulnerability via the Firejail
configuration file in /etc/firejail/firejail.config. Either one of these
options will prevent the attack from succeeding:
- "force-nonewprivs yes"
- "join no"
Upstream informed me that in contrast to this the compile time option
"enable-force-nonewprivs" does not neutralize this particular exploit.
This fact is also investigated and possibly patched by upstream in the
future.
Proof of Concept Exploit
========================
Attached is a proof of concept Python program that has been tested on
current openSUSE, Debian, Arch, Gentoo and Fedora distributions. The
only precondition for the exploit is that Firejail is installed and
accessible to the user. On openSUSE only members of the firejail group
may run firejail, thus the impact is constrained a bit. On Fedora the
attack is hindered a bit by (likely) SELinux rules that prevent a user
from mounting a tmpfs below /proc. The exploit still works by mounting a
tmpfs over all of /proc though.
Upstream Bugfix
===============
Upstream published a comprehensive bugfix for this issue just today [2].
The following changes make up the core of the bugfix:
- obtaining information about and performing operations on process
namespaces is now based on `openat()` system calls relative to the
/proc/<pid> directory of the target process. This mainly avoids race
conditions.
- it is checked that the target process is actually owned by root and
not controlled by an unprivileged user.
- the `setns()` system calls now pass the expected `nstype` parameter to
avoid being tricked into joining a completely different type of
namespace object.
- as an additional hardening a check is performed whether the mnt
namespace to be joined is actually owned by the user namespace to be
joined.
Timeline
========
2022-05-03: I contacted the upstream security contact with the
vulnerability details and offered coordinated disclosure.
2022-05-13: There have been technical problems reaching the security
contact by email, by creating a GitHub issue we've been able
to get the attention of the upstream developer team and
finally to forward the vulnerability details.
2022-05-19: I obtained CVE-2022-31214 from Mitre to track this finding.
2022-05-30: The upstream developers and myself started reviewing the
first version of the bugfix.
2022-06-08: After multiple iterations all parties agreed on the final
version of the patch. Upstream published the patch.
References
==========
[1]: https://github.com/netblue30/firejail
[2]: https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/commit/27cde3d7d1e4e16d4190932347c7151dc2a84c50
--
Matthias Gerstner <matthias.gerstner@...e.de>
Security Engineer
https://www.suse.com/security
GPG Key ID: 0x14C405C971923553
SUSE Software Solutions Germany GmbH
HRB 36809, AG Nürnberg
Geschäftsführer: Ivo Totev
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