I'll describe 7 issues in the /Modules/_elementtree.c module here. They
include multiple use-after-frees, type confusions and instances of
out-of-bounds array indexing.
Issue 1: use-after-free in element_get_text
The problematic code looks like this:
LOCAL(PyObject*)
element_get_text(ElementObject* self)
{
/* return borrowed reference to text attribute */
PyObject* res = self->text;
if (JOIN_GET(res)) {
res = JOIN_OBJ(res);
if (PyList_CheckExact(res)) {
res = list_join(res);
if (!res)
return NULL;
self->text = res;
}
}
return res;
}
As we can see, if res is a list, we call list_join with res, which is
self->text. list_join will decrease self->text's reference count. When that
happens, arbitrary python code can run. If that code uses self->text, a
use-after-free occurs.
PoC (Proof-of-Concept segfaulting script):
---
import _elementtree as et
class X(str):
def __del__(self):
print(elem.text)
b = et.TreeBuilder()
b.start("test")
b.data(["AAAA", X("BBBB")])
b.start("test2")
elem = b.close()
print(elem.text)
---
Issue 2: use-after-free in element_get_tail
The same type of issue also exists in element_get_tail and should be fixed
there, too.
Issue 3: type confusion in elementiter_next
The function elementiter_next iterates over a tree consisting of elements.
Each element has an array of children.
Before doing any casts, most of the elementtree code is careful to check that
these children are, indeed, elements; that is, that their type is correct. The
problem is that elementiter_next does not validate these child objects before
performing a cast. Here is the relevant line:
elem = (ElementObject *)cur_parent->extra->children[child_index];
If the child is not an element, a type confusion occurs. Here's a PoC:
-----
import _elementtree as et
state = {
"tag": "tag",
"_children": [1,2,3],
"attrib": "attr",
"tail": "tail",
"text": "text",
}
e = et.Element("ttt")
e.__setstate__(state)
for x in e.iter():
print(x)
-----
Issue 4: array-out-of-bounds indexing in element_subscr
This issue occurs when taking the subscript of an element. This is done using
the element_subscr function. The function calls PySlice_GetIndicesEx:
if (PySlice_GetIndicesEx(item,
self->extra->length,
&start, &stop, &step, &slicelen) < 0) {
return NULL;
}
The problem is that to evaluate the indices, PySlice_GetIndicesEx might call
back into python code. That code might cause the element's self->extra->length
to change. If this happens, the variables "start", "stop" and "step" might no
longer be appropriate.
The code then uses these variables for array indexing:
for (cur = start, i = 0; i < slicelen;
cur += step, i++) {
PyObject* item = self->extra->children[cur];
...
}
But this could go out of bounds and interpret arbitrary memory as a PyObject.
Here's a PoC that reproduces this:
---
import _elementtree as et
class X:
def __index__(self):
e[:] = []
return 1
e = et.Element("elem")
for _ in range(10):
e.insert(0, et.Element("child"))
print(e[0:10:X()])
---
Running it results in a segfault:
(gdb) r ./poc14.py
Starting program: /home/xx/Python-3.5.2/python ./poc14.py
Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x000000000049f933 in PyObject_Repr (v=0x7ffff68af058) at Objects/object.c:471
471 if (Py_TYPE(v)->tp_repr == NULL)
(gdb) print *v
$37 = {_ob_next = 0xdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdb, _ob_prev = 0xdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdb, ob_refcnt = 0xdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdc,
ob_type = 0xdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdb}
As we can see, "v" is freed memory with arbitrary contents.
Issue 5: array-out-of-bounds indexing in element_ass_subscr
A separate issue of the same type, also due to a call to PySlice_GetIndicesEx,
exists in element_ass_subscr. Here's a proof-of-concept script for that:
---
import _elementtree as et
class X:
def __index__(self):
e[:] = []
return 1
e = et.Element("elem")
for _ in range(10):
e.insert(0, et.Element("child"))
e[0:10:X()] = []
---
To fix these, I believe we could check whether self->extra->length changed
after calling PySlice_GetIndicesEx, and bail out if so. (You can grep the
codebase for "changed size during iteration" for examples of some similarish
cases.)
Issue 6: use-after-free in treebuilder_handle_start
In the function treebuilder_handle_start we see these lines:
if (treebuilder_set_element_text(self->last, self->data))
return NULL;
Here self->last is the most recent element, and we are setting its text to
self->data. This assignment happens via the function
treebuilder_set_element_text which in turn calls
treebuilder_set_element_text_or_tail. There, if the element self->last is not
an exact instance of Element_Type, we run these lines:
PyObject *joined = list_join(data);
int r;
if (joined == NULL)
return -1;
r = _PyObject_SetAttrId(element, name, joined);
Py_DECREF(joined);
return r;
The comment for list_join says this:
/* join list elements (destroying the list in the process) */
So note that we destroy the given list. If we go back to the initial function,
treebuilder_handle_start, then we recall that "element" is really self->last and
"data" is actually self->data. When list_join(data) is called, self->data will
therefore be destroyed. So we have to be careful and ensure that self->data is
overwritten; otherwise it could get used after being freed.
Unfortunately the call to _PyObject_SetAttrId could fail -- for example if
"element" is an integer. Then treebuilder_handle_start just bails out without
clearing self->data. This results in a use-after-free.
Here's a PoC:
---
import _elementtree as et
b = et.TreeBuilder(element_factory=lambda x, y: 123)
b.start("tag", {})
b.data("ABCD")
b.start("tag2", {})
---
It sets self->last to be an integer, 123. When we try to set the attribute
"text" on this integer, it fails. At that point, self->data has been freed but
the reference isn't cleared. When treebuilder_dealloc is called by the garbage
collector, self->data is excessively decref'd and we get a segfault:
(gdb) run ./poc16.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./poc16.py", line 7, in <module>
b.start("tag2", {})
AttributeError: 'int' object has no attribute 'text'
Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x0000000000435122 in visit_decref (op=0x7ffff6d52380, data=0x0) at Modules/gcmodule.c:373
373 if (PyObject_IS_GC(op)) {
(gdb) print *op
$52 = {_ob_next = 0xdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdb, _ob_prev = 0xdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdb, ob_refcnt = 0xdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdb,
ob_type = 0xdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdb}
Note that this issue exists in two places inside treebuilder_handle_start -- the
call to treebuilder_set_element_tail has the same problem and both should be
fixed.
Issue 7: use-after-free in treebuilder_handle_end
The same sort of issue also exists in treebuilder_handle_end and should be
fixed there as well.
All these issues were found in Python-3.5.2 and tested with --with-pydebug
enabled. I did not check the 2.7 branch, but some (though not all) of the
issues likely exist there as well.
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