CVE-2017-14604

GNOME Nautilus before 3.23.90 allows attackers to spoof a file type by
using the .desktop file extension, as demonstrated by an attack in which a
.desktop file’s Name field ends in .pdf but this file’s Exec field launches
a malicious “sh -c” command. In other words, Nautilus provides no UI
indication that a file actually has the potentially unsafe .desktop
extension; instead, the UI only shows the .pdf extension. One (slightly)
mitigating factor is that an attack requires the .desktop file to have
execute permission. The solution is to ask the user to confirm that the
file is supposed to be treated as a .desktop file, and then remember the
user’s answer in the metadata::trusted field.

Bugs

• <http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=860268&gt;
• <https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=777991&gt;
• <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1490872&gt;
• <https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/2238&gt;

Notes