Headline
GHSA-29gw-9793-fvw7: IPython vulnerable to command injection via set_term_title
IPython provides an interactive Python shell and Jupyter kernel to use Python interactively. Versions prior to 8.10.0 are vulnerable to command injection in the set_term_title function under specific conditions. This has been patched in version 8.10.0.
Impact
Users are only vulnerable when calling this function in Windows in a Python environment where ctypes is not available. The dependency on ctypes in IPython.utils._process_win32 prevents the vulnerable code from ever being reached (making it effectively dead code). However, as a library that could be used by another tool, set_term_title could introduce a vulnerability for dependencies. Currently set_term_title is only called with (semi-)trusted input that contain the current working directory of the current IPython session. If an attacker can control directory names, and manage to get a user to cd into this directory, then the attacker can execute arbitrary commands contained in the folder names.
Package
pip IPython (pip)
Description
IPython provides an interactive Python shell and Jupyter kernel to use Python interactively. Versions prior to 8.10.0 are vulnerable to command injection in the set_term_title function under specific conditions. This has been patched in version 8.10.0.
Impact
Users are only vulnerable when calling this function in Windows in a Python environment where ctypes is not available. The dependency on ctypes in IPython.utils._process_win32 prevents the vulnerable code from ever being reached (making it effectively dead code). However, as a library that could be used by another tool, set_term_title could introduce a vulnerability for dependencies. Currently set_term_title is only called with (semi-)trusted input that contain the current working directory of the current IPython session. If an attacker can control directory names, and manage to get a user to cd into this directory, then the attacker can execute arbitrary commands contained in the folder names.
References
- GHSA-29gw-9793-fvw7
- ipython/ipython@385d693
- ipython/ipython@991849c
- https://github.com/Carreau/ipython/blob/7557ade0ed927475d5ab5b573d0ea4febfb22683/docs/source/whatsnew/version8.rst#ipython-810
Last updated
Feb 10, 2023
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database
Feb 10, 2023
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IPython (Interactive Python) is a command shell for interactive computing in multiple programming languages, originally developed for the Python programming language. Versions prior to 8.1.0 are subject to a command injection vulnerability with very specific prerequisites. This vulnerability requires that the function `IPython.utils.terminal.set_term_title` be called on Windows in a Python environment where ctypes is not available. The dependency on `ctypes` in `IPython.utils._process_win32` prevents the vulnerable code from ever being reached in the ipython binary. However, as a library that could be used by another tool `set_term_title` could be called and hence introduce a vulnerability. Should an attacker get untrusted input to an instance of this function they would be able to inject shell commands as current process and limited to the scope of the current process. Users of ipython as a library are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should ensure that any calls to the `IP...