Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7: Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere
CVE-2023-3972 is a high-severity exposure of resource to wrong sphere vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 from Red Hat, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8 out of 10. It can be exploited with local access to the system by an attacker with a low-privileged account, without any action from a user. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.27% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.
High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.
What to do
- Update Insights-client to 3.2.2 or a later version.
- Read the advisory on access.redhat.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
Affected products and versions
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE; 7 further products are omitted here. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- LocalThe attacker needs local access or must trick a user into running something.
- Attack complexity
- LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
- Privileges required
- LowA basic user account is enough.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Scope
- UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
- Confidentiality
- HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
- Integrity
- HighData or code can be modified at will.
- Availability
- HighThe component can be taken down completely.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by NVD.
| Scoring system | Score | Severity | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | 7.8 | High | CNA (redhat.com) |
| CVSS 3.1 | 7.8 | High | NVD |
Official description
A vulnerability was found in insights-client. This security issue occurs because of insecure file operations or unsafe handling of temporary files and directories that lead to local privilege escalation. Before the insights-client has been registered on the system by root, an unprivileged local user or attacker could create the /var/tmp/insights-client directory (owning the directory with read, write, and execute permissions) on the system. After the insights-client is registered by root, an attacker could then control the directory content that insights are using by putting malicious scripts into it and executing arbitrary code as root (trivially bypassing SELinux protections because insights processes are allowed to disable SELinux system-wide).
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere
The product exposes a resource to the wrong control sphere, providing unintended actors with inappropriate access to the resource.
More Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere vulnerabilities (CWE-668)
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Advisories
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6264
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6282
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6283
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6284
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6795
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6796
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6798
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6811
- access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-3972
- bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2227027Issue Tracking
Patches and release notes
Other vulnerabilities in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.9 High severity
- 7.3 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
Recent Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere vulnerabilities
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
Spotted an error? Tell us.