Gentoo: GLSA-201709-07: Kpathsea: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code
Summary
It was discovered that the mpost program from the shell_escape_commands list is capable of executing arbitrary external programs during the conversion of .tex files. The responsible function is runpopen() (texmfmp.c).
Resolution
All Kpathsea users should upgrade to the latest version:
# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot -v ">=dev-libs/kpathsea-6.2.2_p20160523"
Packages which depend on this library may need to be recompiled. Tools
such as revdep-rebuild may assist in identifying some of these
packages.
References
[ 1 ] CVE-2016-10243 https://nvd.nist.gov/nvd.cfm?cvename=CVE-2016-10243
Availability
This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at
the Gentoo Security Website:
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201709-07
Concerns
Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the confidentiality and security of our users' machines is of utmost importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at https://bugs.gentoo.org.
Background
Kpathsea is a library to do path searching. It is used by TeX Live and others TeX related software.
Affected Packages
------------------------------------------------------------------- Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 dev-libs/kpathsea < 6.2.2_p20160523 >= 6.2.2_p20160523
Impact
===== A remote attacker, by enticing a user to open a specially crafted .tex file, could possibly execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the process.
Workaround
There is no known workaround at this time.