public inbox for gcc-bugs@sourceware.org
help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: "Keith.S.Thompson at gmail dot com" <gcc-bugzilla@gcc.gnu.org>
To: gcc-bugs@gcc.gnu.org
Subject: [Bug preprocessor/66318] New: Error messages contain raw file name; malicious #line directives can do bad things
Date: Wed, 27 May 2015 23:01:00 -0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <bug-66318-4@http.gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/> (raw)

https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=66318

            Bug ID: 66318
           Summary: Error messages contain raw file name; malicious #line
                    directives can do bad things
           Product: gcc
           Version: 5.1.0
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P3
         Component: preprocessor
          Assignee: unassigned at gcc dot gnu.org
          Reporter: Keith.S.Thompson at gmail dot com
  Target Milestone: ---

Error messages include the (presumed) name of the source file in which
the error was detected. The #line directive can set the presumed file name
to nearly any arbitrary string, possibly including control characters.

A directive like:

#line __LINE__ "beep\a.c"

can cause every printed error message to beep.  More malicious #line
directives can cause even more obnoxious behavior.

The sample file shown below, when fed through the preprocessor (either
directly or via the "gcc" command), will change the screen foreground
to green and the background to red if the command is run under xterm.

Depending on which terminal emulator is being used and how it's
configured, it might even be possible to trigger arbitrary code execution
just by compiling a source file.

System: Linux Mint 17.
gcc version 5.1.0, built from source with:
gcc-5.1.0/configure --prefix=/usr/local/apps/gcc-5.1.0 --disable-multilib

Test case (a 2 line source file named "red_green.c"):
#line __LINE__ "'\x1b]10;green\a\x1b]11;red\a'"
#error "Argh! My eyes!"

Output of "cpp red_green.c 2>&1 | cat -A":
'^[]10;green^G^[]11;red^G':1:2: error: #error "Argh! My eyes!"$
# 1 "red_green.c"$
# 1 "<built-in>"$
# 1 "<command-line>"$
# 1 "/usr/include/stdc-predef.h" 1 3 4$
# 1 "<command-line>" 2$
# 1 "red_green.c"$
# 1 "'^[]10;green^G^[]11;red^G'"$

See the "xtermcontrol" command for other possibilities. Even if
arbitrary command execution isn't possible, maximizing the current
window and rapidly alternating between red and green would be at least
seriously annoying, and at worst potentially dangerous to epileptics
(the latter is speculation on my part).

Suggested fix: Sanitize the displayed file name for error messages so
only printable characters are displayed (presumably affected by the
current locale).


             reply	other threads:[~2015-05-27 23:01 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2015-05-27 23:01 Keith.S.Thompson at gmail dot com [this message]
2015-05-27 23:42 ` [Bug preprocessor/66318] " msebor at gcc dot gnu.org
2015-05-28  0:06 ` Keith.S.Thompson at gmail dot com
2015-05-28  3:20 ` msebor at gcc dot gnu.org
2015-05-28 23:38 ` miyuki at gcc dot gnu.org
2015-05-29 19:47 ` Keith.S.Thompson at gmail dot com

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=bug-66318-4@http.gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/ \
    --to=gcc-bugzilla@gcc.gnu.org \
    --cc=gcc-bugs@gcc.gnu.org \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for read-only IMAP folder(s) and NNTP newsgroup(s).