Opera: Command-line URL shell command injection

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200512-10 / opera
Release Date	December 18, 2005
Latest Revision	December 18, 2005: 01
Impact	normal
Exploitable	remote

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
www-client/opera	< 8.51	>= 8.51	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #113239

Synopsis

Lack of URL validation in Opera command-line wrapper could be abused to execute arbitrary commands.

2. Impact Information

Background

Opera is a multi-platform web browser.

Description

Peter Zelezny discovered that the shell script used to launch Opera parses shell commands that are enclosed within backticks in the URL provided via the command line.

Impact

A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by enticing a user to follow a specially crafted URL from a tool that uses Opera to open URLs, resulting in the execution of arbitrary commands on the targeted machine.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Opera users should upgrade to the latest version:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=www-client/opera-8.51"

4. References

Page updated December 18, 2005

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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