RubyGems Delete directory using symlink when decompressing tar
High severity
GitHub Reviewed
Published
Jun 20, 2019
to the GitHub Advisory Database
•
Updated Aug 28, 2023
Package
Affected versions
>= 2.7.6, < 2.7.9
>= 3.0.0, < 3.0.3
Patched versions
2.7.9
3.0.3
Description
Reviewed
Jun 20, 2019
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database
Jun 20, 2019
Last updated
Aug 28, 2023
A Directory Traversal issue was discovered in RubyGems 2.7.6 and later through 3.0.2. Before making new directories or touching files (which now include path-checking code for symlinks), it would delete the target destination. If that destination was hidden behind a symlink, a malicious gem could delete arbitrary files on the user's machine, presuming the attacker could guess at paths. Given how frequently gem is run as sudo, and how predictable paths are on modern systems (/tmp, /usr, etc.), this could likely lead to data loss or an unusable system.
References