Parsing optional environment variables after a login name is a feature
which is neither documented nor available in util-linux or busybox
login which are other wide spread login utilities used in Linux
distributions as reference.
Removing this feature resolves two issues:
- A memory leak exists if variables without an equal sign are used,
because set_env creates copies on its own. This could lead to OOM
situations in privileged part of login or may lead to heap spraying.
- Environment variables are not reset between login attempts. This
could lead to additional environment variables set for a user who
never intended to do so.
Proof of Concept on a system with shadow login without PAM and
util-linux agetty:
1. Provoke an invalid login, e.g. user `noone` and password `invalid`.
This starts shadow login and subsequent inputs are passed through
the function login_prompt.
2. Provoke an invalid login with environment variables, e.g.
user `noone HISTFILE=/tmp/owo` and password `invalid`.
3. Log in correctly with user `root`.
Now you can see with `echo $HISTFILE` that `/tmp/owo` has been set for
the root user.
This requires a malicious failed login attempt and a successful login
within the configured login timeout (default 60 seconds).
Signed-off-by: Samanta Navarro <ferivoz@riseup.net>
Samanta Navarro
8fc8de382a