CVE-2020-16120

Published Feb 10, 2021

Last updated 3 years ago

Overview

Description
Overlayfs did not properly perform permission checking when copying up files in an overlayfs and could be exploited from within a user namespace, if, for example, unprivileged user namespaces were allowed. It was possible to have a file not readable by an unprivileged user to be copied to a mountpoint controlled by the user, like a removable device. This was introduced in kernel version 4.19 by commit d1d04ef ("ovl: stack file ops"). This was fixed in kernel version 5.8 by commits 56230d9 ("ovl: verify permissions in ovl_path_open()"), 48bd024 ("ovl: switch to mounter creds in readdir") and 05acefb ("ovl: check permission to open real file"). Additionally, commits 130fdbc ("ovl: pass correct flags for opening real directory") and 292f902 ("ovl: call secutiry hook in ovl_real_ioctl()") in kernel 5.8 might also be desired or necessary. These additional commits introduced a regression in overlay mounts within user namespaces which prevented access to files with ownership outside of the user namespace. This regression was mitigated by subsequent commit b6650da ("ovl: do not fail because of O_NOATIMEi") in kernel 5.11.
Source
security@ubuntu.com
NVD status
Analyzed

Risk scores

CVSS 3.1

Type
Primary
Base score
4.4
Impact score
3.6
Exploitability score
0.8
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Severity
MEDIUM

CVSS 2.0

Type
Primary
Base score
2.1
Impact score
2.9
Exploitability score
3.9
Vector string
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Weaknesses

nvd@nist.gov
NVD-CWE-Other
security@ubuntu.com
CWE-266

Social media

Hype score
Not currently trending

Configurations