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CVE-2021-43802 Detail

Description

Etherpad is a real-time collaborative editor. In versions prior to 1.8.16, an attacker can craft an `*.etherpad` file that, when imported, might allow the attacker to gain admin privileges for the Etherpad instance. This, in turn, can be used to install a malicious Etherpad plugin that can execute arbitrary code (including system commands). To gain privileges, the attacker must be able to trigger deletion of `express-session` state or wait for old `express-session` state to be cleaned up. Core Etherpad does not delete any `express-session` state, so the only known attacks require either a plugin that can delete session state or a custom cleanup process (such as a cron job that deletes old `sessionstorage:*` records). The problem has been fixed in version 1.8.16. If users cannot upgrade to 1.8.16 or install patches manually, several workarounds are available. Users may configure their reverse proxies to reject requests to `/p/*/import`, which will block all imports, not just `*.etherpad` imports; limit all users to read-only access; and/or prevent the reuse of `express_sid` cookie values that refer to deleted express-session state. More detailed information and general mitigation strategies may be found in the GitHub Security Advisory.


Metrics

NVD enrichment efforts reference publicly available information to associate vector strings. CVSS information contributed by other sources is also displayed.
CVSS 4.0 Severity and Vector Strings:

NIST CVSS score
NIST: NVD
N/A
NVD assessment not yet provided.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

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Hyperlink Resource
https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/compare/b7065eb9a0ec7c3c265f8cfeb2534efe6f036456...77bcb507b30e762e9375b0511b3763e0162aae53 Patch  Third Party Advisory 
https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/issues/5010 Issue Tracking  Third Party Advisory 
https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/releases/tag/1.8.16 Release Notes  Third Party Advisory 
https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/security/advisories/GHSA-w3g3-qf3g-2mqc Mitigation  Patch  Third Party Advisory 

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-ID CWE Name Source
NVD-CWE-Other Other cwe source acceptance level NIST  
CWE-20 Improper Input Validation cwe source acceptance level NIST  
CWE-1287 Improper Validation of Specified Type of Input GitHub, Inc.  
CWE-790 Improper Filtering of Special Elements GitHub, Inc.  

Known Affected Software Configurations Switch to CPE 2.2

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Change History

3 change records found show changes

Quick Info

CVE Dictionary Entry:
CVE-2021-43802
NVD Published Date:
12/09/2021
NVD Last Modified:
08/31/2023
Source:
GitHub, Inc.