CVE-2017-16355: Passenger Phusion Passenger Information Disclosure Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-cv3f-px9r-54hm
Share
CVSS 4.7
CWE-200
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2017-16355 is a MODERATE (CVSS 4.7) phusion passenger information disclosure vulnerability (CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor) affecting Passenger libraries in the RubyGems ecosystem. The issue involves phusion passenger information disclosure. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 5.1.11.

CVE-2017-16355 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2017-16355
GHSA Identifier GHSA-cv3f-px9r-54hm
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 4.7
CWE Classification CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Affected Product Passenger
Package Ecosystem RubyGems
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 4.7

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).

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

How to Fix CVE-2017-16355

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: 5.1.11 
Upgrade passenger to 5.1.11
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-2017-16355, 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 5.1.11), 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 CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor, where the product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information. 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 agent/Core/SpawningKit/Spawner.h in Phusion Passenger 5.1.10 (fixed in Passenger Open Source 5.1.11 and Passenger Enterprise 5.1.10), if Passenger is running as root, it is possible to list the contents of arbitrary files on a system by symlinking a file named REVISION from the application root folder to a file of choice and querying passenger-status --show=xml.

CVE-2017-16355 Affected Passenger Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
5.1.11
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
passenger
gem/passenger
RubyGems
< 5.1.11
5.1.11

References

NVD — CVE-2017-16355 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-16355
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/phusion/passenger/commit/4043718264095cde6623c2cbe8c644541036d7bf
Passenger Security Information SECURITY
https://blog.phusion.nl/2017/10/13/passenger-security-advisory-5-1-11
Passenger Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/phusion/passenger
Passenger Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2017-16355.yml
seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/mar/34 WEB
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Mar/34
Passenger Security Information SECURITY
https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4415

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2017-16355?
CVE-2017-16355 is a security vulnerability in Passenger involving Phusion Passenger information disclosure under CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor.
Which Passenger versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 5.1.11 across affected packages: passenger.
What version fixes CVE-2017-16355?
Upgrading to 5.1.11 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is passenger affected?
Yes, passenger is affected in releases prior to 5.1.11. Upgrade your dependency to 5.1.11 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-16355?
CVE-2017-16355 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.7 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2017-16355?
CVE-2017-16355 is classified under CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor (The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.).
How can I check RubyGems dependencies for CVE-2017-16355?
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-cv3f-px9r-54hm",
  "modified" : "2022-06-17T21:25:35Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-13T01:30:59Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2017-16355" ],
  "summary" : "Phusion Passenger information disclosure",
  "details" : "In agent/Core/SpawningKit/Spawner.h in Phusion Passenger 5.1.10 (fixed in Passenger Open Source 5.1.11 and Passenger Enterprise 5.1.10), if Passenger is running as root, it is possible to list the contents of arbitrary files on a system by symlinking a file named REVISION from the application root folder to a file of choice and querying passenger-status --show=xml.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "RubyGems",
      "name" : "passenger"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "5.1.11"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-16355"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/phusion/passenger/commit/4043718264095cde6623c2cbe8c644541036d7bf"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://blog.phusion.nl/2017/10/13/passenger-security-advisory-5-1-11"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/phusion/passenger"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2017-16355.yml"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Mar/34"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4415"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-200" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2022-06-17T21:25:35Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2017-12-14T22:29:00Z"
  }
}