VMSA-2010-0011

VMware Studio 2.1 addresses security vulnerabilities in virtual appliances created with Studio 2.0.

1. Summary

VMware Studio 2.1 addresses security vulnerabilities in virtual appliances created with Studio 2.0.

2. Relevant releases

VMware Studio 2.0

Note: virtual appliances created with VMware Studio 2.0 may be affected

3. Problem Description

a. VMware Studio 2.0 remote command execution by Studio user

VMware Studio is a development tool to create and manage virtual appliances. VMware Studio itself is a virtual appliance. A vulnerability in the Virtual Appliance Management Infrastructure (VAMI) allows for remote command execution in Studio 2.0 or in virtual appliances created with Studio 2.0. Exploitation of the issue requires authentication to Studio or to the virtual appliance.
Studio 2.0
----------
The vulnerability may be exploited on Studio if both of these conditions apply:
- you have Studio 2.0
and
- you have created a user account with limited privileges (this is not the default configuration).
Studio is by default shipped with the root user account and no other user accounts. For this reason, exploitation of the vulnerability would not yield any gain for an attacker since the attacker would need to know the credentials of the root user account in order to launch an attack. If an attacker knows the credentials of the root user, the attacker will have other avenues to compromise Studio.
In case another user account with limited privileges has been added to Studio, the exploitation of the issue may lead to remote command execution by the attacker. The attacker would still need to know the credentials of the additional user account in order to launch an attack.
Virtual appliances created with Studio 2.0
------------------------------------------
The vulnerability may be exploited on a virtual appliance if both of these conditions apply:
- the virtual appliance was created with Studio 2.0
and
- the virtual appliance has a user account with limited privileges.
The following command will show which version of Studio was used to create the virtual appliance:
"vamicli version --studio"
If the issue can be exploited, the following will remove this possibility:
- disable user accounts that have limited privileges
or
- disable the vami-sfcbd daemon (note: this will prevent the use of VAMI features such as using the web interface to set the network configuration)
or
- recreate the virtual appliance using Studio 2.1.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2010-2667 to this issue.
VMware would like to thank Claudio Criscione of Secure Network for reporting this issue to us.
Column 4 of the following table lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.

* The default configuration of Studio 2.0 is not affected, see above for details. Virtual appliances created with Studio 2.0 may be affected, see above for details.

b. VMware Studio 2.0 local privilege escalation vulnerability

VMware Studio is a development tool to create and manage virtual appliances. VMware Studio itself is a virtual appliance.
A vulnerability in the way temporary files are written may lead to a privilege escalation in Studio 2.0. Exploitation of the issue requires authentication to the system running Studio. Virtual appliances created with Studio 2.0 are not affected.
Studio is by default shipped with the root user account and no other user accounts. For this reason, exploitation of the vulnerability would not yield any gain for an attacker since the attacker would need to know the credentials of the root user account in order to launch an attack. If an attacker knows the credentials of the root user, the attacker will have other avenues to compromise Studio.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2010-2427 to this issue.
VMware would like to thank Claudio Criscione of Secure Network for reporting this issue to us.
Column 4 of the following table lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.

* The default configuration of Studio 2.0 is not affected, see above for details. Virtual appliances created with Studio 2.0 may be affected, see above for details.

4. Solution

Please review the patch/release notes for your product and version and verify the md5sum or sha1sum of your downloaded file.

VMware Studio 2.1 build 1318-268792
-----------------------------------
http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/studio/
Release notes:
http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/studio/studio21/release_notes.html

Following downloads are available from
http://www.vmware.com/downloads/download.do?downloadGroup=STUDIO21GA

VMware Studio appliance in ZIP
md5sum:b8555e11412da3b9ab4a8a663069380b
sha1sum:ec53078d40bb2abaa207ba62ee893a0502dc861b

VMware Studio appliance in OVA
md5sum:9bff9cfd011245278063c8821981519a
sha1sum:163e13587a1a80582970bc02fac98e93df99fdc7

VMware Studio appliance in OVF 1.0
md5sum:f7269080b987aac2982ca50df22f4cc9
sha1sum:d579a72d8bf3f04711816e01d83b999b8b2105ce

VMware Studio appliance in OVF 0.9
md5sum:3388ea758d7f47c51277efad77900a69
sha1sum:0a11225b448085c82909892ba1ff3d3310ad55a5

VMDK associated with the OVF 1.0 and OVF 0.9 descriptor
md5sum:8bc772e36155e2917fa0f1ca63de6759
sha1sum:ca7e77b87c7b2c03a32515da4091e19bb5c1c8a7

VMware Studio Plugin for Eclipse in ZIP
md5sum:d260c26e9ede41e6412407d0089495e9
sha1sum:648812be742968dc8b0e54d3de4d6a90d2f3e17f

5. References

CVE numbers
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2010-2427
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2010-2667

6. Change log

2010-07-13 VMSA-2010-0011
Initial security advisory after release of Studio 2.1 on 2010-07-13.

7. Contact

E-mail list for product security notifications and announcements:
http://lists.vmware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/security-announce

This Security Advisory is posted to the following lists:

• security-announce at lists.vmware.com
• bugtraq at securityfocus.com
• full-disclosure at lists.grok.org.uk