exploit-db-mirror/exploits/linux/dos/38857.md

• Exploit Title: Gnome Nautilus [Denial of Service]
• Discovery Date: 2015/10/27
• Public Disclosure Date: 2015/12/01
• Exploit Author: Panagiotis Vagenas
• Contact: https://twitter.com/panVagenas
• Vendor Homepage: https://www.gnome.org/
• Software Link: https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Nautilus
• Version: 3.16
• Tested on: Ubuntu 14.04, Fedora 22

Description

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Gnome Nautilus <= v3.16 is vulnerable to DoS attack through a malicious crafted file.

Details

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A malicious crafted file can be used to perform a DoS attack in Nautilus. The attacker must have local access to affected system or convince the victim to download the file (email, web url etc.). Next time the victim tries to open the directory that contains the malicious file, Nautilus crashes without warning.

The file must have a .jp2 extension and start with the JPEG signature (0xFFD8).

Additional Notes

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This seems to happen every time Nautilus is trying to update the thumbnail of the file.

In Ubuntu and Fedora process dies with the message:

Premature end of JPEG file
JPEG datastream contains no image

This vulnerability seems to affect all Nautilus versions prior to 3.16.

PoC

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1. Create a file without a .jp2 extension in an affected system
2. Open the file in a hex editor so it start with the JPEG signature (0xFFD8)
3. Rename the file so it has the .jp2 extension
4. Open directory with Nautilus
5. Nautilus dies without warning

Timeline

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2015/10/27 - Discovered 2015/10/29 - Vendor notified at security@gnome.org

Solution

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No official solution yet exists.

Work-around

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Disabling generation of thumbnails for all files, through Nautilus options, will prevent Nautilus from crashing.