Spring Boot supports an embedded launch script that can be used to easily run the application as a systemd or init.d linux service. The script included with Spring Boot 1.5.9 and earlier and 2.0.0.M1 through 2.0.0.M7 is susceptible to a symlink attack which allows the "run_user" to overwrite and take ownership of any file on the same system. In order to instigate the attack, the application must be installed as a service and the "run_user" requires shell access to the server. Spring Boot application that are not installed as a service, or are not using the embedded launch script are not susceptible.
The MITRE CVE dictionary describes this issue as:
Find out more about CVE-2018-1196 from the MITRE CVE dictionary dictionary and NIST NVD.
NOTE: The following CVSS v3 metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
| CVSS3 Base Score | 6.8 |
|---|---|
| CVSS3 Base Metrics | CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N |
| Attack Vector | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High |
| Privileges Required | Low |
| User Interaction | None |
| Scope | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High |
| Integrity Impact | High |
| Availability Impact | None |
| Platform | Package | State |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift Application Runtimes 1.0 | springboot | Not affected |
| Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6 | spring-boot | Not affected |
Vulmon