Xdg-Utils: Arbitrary command execution

Background

Xdg-Utils is a set of tools allowing all applications to easily integrate with the Free Desktop configuration.

Description

Miroslav Lichvar discovered that the “xdg-open” and “xdg-email” shell scripts do not properly sanitize their input before processing it.

Impact

A remote attacker could entice a user to open a specially crafted link with a vulnerable application using Xdg-Utils (e.g. an email client), resulting in the execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the application.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Xdg-Utils users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-misc/xdg-utils-1.0.2-r1"