CVE-2005-1632: Cheetah Cheetah Path Search Order Hijacking Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-vxf2-7rc3-pxmx
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CWE-427
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2005-1632 is a HIGH cheetah path search order hijacking vulnerability (CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element) affecting Cheetah libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves cheetah path search order hijacking. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2005-1632 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2005-1632
GHSA Identifier GHSA-vxf2-7rc3-pxmx
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element
Affected Product Cheetah
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2005-1632

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

cheetah fixed: Latest secure release 
pip install cheetah>=Latest secure release
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

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

pip show cheetah

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2005-1632, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show cheetah

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

Note: The pip show cheetah command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element, where the product uses a fixed or controlled search path to find resources, but one or more locations in that path can be under the control of unintended actors. In Cheetah, 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

Cheetah 0.9.15 and 0.9.16 searches the `/tmp` directory for modules before using the paths in the `PYTHONPATH` variable, which allows local users to execute arbitrary code via a malicious module in `/tmp/`.

CVE-2005-1632 Affected Cheetah Versions

1 component(s)
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
cheetah
pypi/cheetah
PyPI
≥ 0.9.15
≤ 0.9.16

References

NVD — CVE-2005-1632 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2005-1632
Cheetah Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/cheetahtemplate/cheetah
web.archive.org/web/20050430021153/... WEB
https://web.archive.org/web/20050430021153/http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=7070332&forum_id=1542

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2005-1632?
CVE-2005-1632 is a security vulnerability in Cheetah involving Cheetah Path Search Order Hijacking under CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element.
Which Cheetah versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches across affected packages: cheetah.
What version fixes CVE-2005-1632?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is cheetah affected?
Yes, cheetah is affected in releases prior to Latest secure release. Upgrade your dependency to Latest secure release or later.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2005-1632?
CVE-2005-1632 is classified under CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element (The product uses a fixed or controlled search path to find resources, but one or more locations in that path can be under the control of unintended actors.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2005-1632?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show cheetah'. 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-vxf2-7rc3-pxmx",
  "modified" : "2023-09-18T23:34:20Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-01T02:00:38Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2005-1632" ],
  "summary" : "Cheetah Path Search Order Hijacking",
  "details" : "Cheetah 0.9.15 and 0.9.16 searches the `/tmp` directory for modules before using the paths in the `PYTHONPATH` variable, which allows local users to execute arbitrary code via a malicious module in `/tmp/`.",
  "severity" : [ ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "cheetah"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0.9.15"
      }, {
        "last_affected" : "0.9.16"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2005-1632"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/cheetahtemplate/cheetah"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://web.archive.org/web/20050430021153/http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=7070332&forum_id=1542"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-427" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-09-18T23:34:20Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2005-05-17T04:00:00Z"
  }
}