Tools/scripts/ftpmirror.py does not guard against arbitrary path constructions, and, given a connection to a malicious FTP server (or a man in the middle attack), it is possible that any file on the client's filesystem gets overwritten. Ie,. if we suppose that ftpmirror.py is run from a "base directory" /home/xxx/yyy, file creations can occur outside this base directory, such as in /tmp, /etc, /var, just to give some examples.

I've constructed a partial proof of concept FTP server that demonstrates directory and file creation outside the base directory (the directory the client script was launched from). I understand that most of the files in Tools/scripts/ are legacy applications that have long been deprecated. However, if the maintainers think these applications should be safe nonetheless, I'll be happy to construct and submit a patch that will remediate this issue.

Guido Vranken
Intelworks