CVE-2016-10345: Passenger Phusion Passenger Uses A Known Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-cqxw-3p7v-p9gr
Share
CVSS 7.8
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2016-10345 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.8) phusion passenger uses a known vulnerability (General Security Weakness) affecting Passenger libraries in the RubyGems ecosystem. The issue involves phusion passenger uses a known /tmp filename. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 5.1.0.

CVE-2016-10345 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2016-10345
GHSA Identifier GHSA-cqxw-3p7v-p9gr
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.8
CWE Classification General Security Weakness
Affected Product Passenger
Package Ecosystem RubyGems
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.8

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2016-10345

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Passenger dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

passenger fixed: 5.1.0 
Upgrade passenger to 5.1.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

inspect dependencies for passenger

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2016-10345, inspect your project dependencies for Passenger:

inspect dependencies for passenger

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Passenger in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 5.1.0), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under General Security Weakness. In Passenger, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

In Phusion Passenger before 5.1.0, a known /tmp filename was used during passenger-install-nginx-module execution, which could allow local attackers to gain the privileges of the passenger user

CVE-2016-10345 Affected Passenger Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
5.1.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
passenger
gem/passenger
RubyGems
< 5.1.0
5.1.0

References

NVD — CVE-2016-10345 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10345
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/phusion/passenger/commit/e5b4b0824d6b648525b4bf63d9fa37e5beeae441
blog.phusion.nl/2017/01/10/passenge... WEB
https://blog.phusion.nl/2017/01/10/passenger-5-1-1
GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-cqxw-3p7v-p9gr
Passenger Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/phusion/passenger
Passenger Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/phusion/passenger/blob/stable-5.1/CHANGELOG
Passenger Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2016-10345.yml

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2016-10345?
CVE-2016-10345 is a security vulnerability in Passenger involving Phusion Passenger uses a known /tmp filename under General Security Weakness.
Which Passenger versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 5.1.0 across affected packages: passenger.
What version fixes CVE-2016-10345?
Upgrading to 5.1.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is passenger affected?
Yes, passenger is affected in releases prior to 5.1.0. Upgrade your dependency to 5.1.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-10345?
CVE-2016-10345 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2016-10345?
CVE-2016-10345 is classified under General Security Weakness.
How can I check RubyGems dependencies for CVE-2016-10345?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for passenger'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-cqxw-3p7v-p9gr",
  "modified" : "2022-04-26T20:43:37Z",
  "published" : "2018-08-21T17:08:03Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2016-10345" ],
  "summary" : "Phusion Passenger uses a known /tmp filename",
  "details" : "In Phusion Passenger before 5.1.0, a known /tmp filename was used during passenger-install-nginx-module execution, which could allow local attackers to gain the privileges of the passenger user",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "RubyGems",
      "name" : "passenger"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "5.1.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10345"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/phusion/passenger/commit/e5b4b0824d6b648525b4bf63d9fa37e5beeae441"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://blog.phusion.nl/2017/01/10/passenger-5-1-1"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-cqxw-3p7v-p9gr"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/phusion/passenger"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/phusion/passenger/blob/stable-5.1/CHANGELOG"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2016-10345.yml"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T21:32:32Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}