CVE-2017-17458: Mercurial Mercurial Vulnerable To Arbitrary Code Vulnerability

CRITICAL
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-6v56-cpg6-3rpx
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CVSS 9.8
CWE-78
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2017-17458 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8) mercurial vulnerable to arbitrary code vulnerability (CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')) affecting Mercurial libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves mercurial vulnerable to arbitrary code injection. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 4.4.1.

CVE-2017-17458 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2017-17458
GHSA Identifier GHSA-6v56-cpg6-3rpx
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 9.8
CWE Classification CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')
Affected Product Mercurial
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 9.8

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

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
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-2017-17458

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

mercurial fixed: 4.4.1 
pip install mercurial>=4.4.1
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 mercurial

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2017-17458, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show mercurial

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Mercurial in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 4.4.1), your application is affected.

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

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection'), where the product constructs all or part of an os command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended os command when it is sent to a downstream component. In Mercurial, 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 Mercurial before 4.4.1, it is possible that a specially malformed repository can cause Git subrepositories to run arbitrary code in the form of a `.git/hooks/post-update` script checked into the repository. Typical use of Mercurial prevents construction of such repositories, but they can be created programmatically.

CVE-2017-17458 Affected Mercurial Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
4.4.1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
mercurial
pypi/mercurial
PyPI
< 4.4.1
4.4.1

References

NVD — CVE-2017-17458 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-17458
Mercurial Security Information SECURITY
https://bz.mercurial-scm.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5730
Mercurial Security Information SECURITY
https://confluence.atlassian.com/sourcetreekb/sourcetree-security-advisory-2018-01-24-942834324.html
Mercurial Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/dscho/hg
Mercurial Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/mercurial/PYSEC-2017-90.yaml
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce... WEB
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2017/12/msg00027.html
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce... WEB
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/07/msg00005.html
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce... WEB
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/07/msg00041.html
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce... WEB
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/07/msg00032.html
Mercurial Security Information SECURITY
https://web.archive.org/web/20200227132808/http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102926
Mercurial Security Information SECURITY
https://www.mercurial-scm.org/pipermail/mercurial-devel/2017-November/107333.html
Mercurial Security Information SECURITY
https://www.mercurial-scm.org/wiki/WhatsNew#Mercurial_4.4.1_.282017-11-07.29

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2017-17458?
CVE-2017-17458 is a security vulnerability in Mercurial involving Mercurial vulnerable to arbitrary code injection under CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection').
Which Mercurial versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 4.4.1 across affected packages: mercurial.
What version fixes CVE-2017-17458?
Upgrading to 4.4.1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is mercurial affected?
Yes, mercurial is affected in releases prior to 4.4.1. Upgrade your dependency to 4.4.1 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-17458?
CVE-2017-17458 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2017-17458?
CVE-2017-17458 is classified under CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') (The product constructs all or part of an OS command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended OS command when it is sent to a downstream component.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2017-17458?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show mercurial'. 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-6v56-cpg6-3rpx",
  "modified" : "2024-09-25T17:46:16Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-13T01:24:56Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2017-17458" ],
  "summary" : "Mercurial vulnerable to arbitrary code injection",
  "details" : "In Mercurial before 4.4.1, it is possible that a specially malformed repository can cause Git subrepositories to run arbitrary code in the form of a `.git/hooks/post-update` script checked into the repository. Typical use of Mercurial prevents construction of such repositories, but they can be created programmatically.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "mercurial"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "4.4.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-17458"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bz.mercurial-scm.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5730"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://confluence.atlassian.com/sourcetreekb/sourcetree-security-advisory-2018-01-24-942834324.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/dscho/hg"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/mercurial/PYSEC-2017-90.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2017/12/msg00027.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/07/msg00005.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/07/msg00041.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/07/msg00032.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://web.archive.org/web/20200227132808/http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102926"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.mercurial-scm.org/pipermail/mercurial-devel/2017-November/107333.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.mercurial-scm.org/wiki/WhatsNew#Mercurial_4.4.1_.282017-11-07.29"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-78" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-05-01T17:02:42Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2017-12-07T18:29:00Z"
  }
}