FreeBSD VuXML: Documenting security issues in FreeBSD and the FreeBSD Ports Collection

node.js -- multiple vulnerabilities

Affected packages
6.0.0 <= node < 6.9.0

Details

VuXML ID 27180c99-9b5c-11e6-b799-19bef72f4b7c
Discovery 2016-10-18
Entry 2016-10-28

Node.js v6.9.0 LTS contains the following security fixes, specific to v6.x:

Disable auto-loading of openssl.cnf: Don't automatically attempt to load an OpenSSL configuration file, from the OPENSSL_CONF environment variable or from the default location for the current platform. Always triggering a configuration file load attempt may allow an attacker to load compromised OpenSSL configuration into a Node.js process if they are able to place a file in a default location.

Patched V8 arbitrary memory read (CVE-2016-5172): The V8 parser mishandled scopes, potentially allowing an attacker to obtain sensitive information from arbitrary memory locations via crafted JavaScript code. This vulnerability would require an attacker to be able to execute arbitrary JavaScript code in a Node.js process.

Create a unique v8_inspector WebSocket address: Generate a UUID for each execution of the inspector. This provides additional security to prevent unauthorized clients from connecting to the Node.js process via the v8_inspector port when running with --inspect. Since the debugging protocol allows extensive access to the internals of a running process, and the execution of arbitrary code, it is important to limit connections to authorized tools only. Note that the v8_inspector protocol in Node.js is still considered an experimental feature. Vulnerability originally reported by Jann Horn.

All of these vulnerabilities are considered low-severity for Node.js users, however, users of Node.js v6.x should upgrade at their earliest convenience.

References

CVE Name CVE-2016-5172
URL https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/october-2016-security-releases/