Description

Improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command ('OS command injection') vulnerability in TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Software Technologies Research Institute Pardus Boot Repair allows OS Command Injection. This issue affects Pardus Boot Repair: from 1.0.7 before 1.0.8.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "7.8",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-31T14:17:14.047Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-31T14:17:14.047Z",
  "executiveSummary": "Pardus Boot Repair, within versions 1.0.7 and prior to 1.0.8, is susceptible to an OS command injection vulnerability categorized under CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command).\nThis vulnerability arises from the application's failure to adequately sanitize user-supplied input before passing it to system-level command execution functions.\nSuccessful exploitation allows an unauthenticated or low-privileged attacker to execute arbitrary OS commands with the privileges of the underlying process, typically running with elevated permissions in the context of boot repair tools.\nThe impact includes full system compromise, unauthorized data access, and the potential for persistent system instability or backdooring.\nGiven the nature of the application, which operates at the system boot level, the risk implications are critical, potentially leading to a complete bypass of security controls and loss of system integrity.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability resides within the Pardus Boot Repair component, specifically in the mechanisms designed to interface with low-level system configuration files or boot parameters. The root cause is the improper neutralization of special shell characters within input strings that are subsequently concatenated into system commands executed by the underlying operating system.\nWhen the application processes input, it fails to employ robust input validation or parameterized interfaces (such as execve or similar secure APIs that separate command arguments from the executable). Instead, it appears to utilize shell-interpretable execution methods where attacker-controlled input is treated as part of the command string.\nAn attacker can exploit this by crafting a payload containing shell metacharacters such as ';', '|', '&&', or '$()'. By injecting these characters into the input vector, the attacker breaks out of the intended command context and forces the shell to interpret and execute additional, unauthorized commands.\nThe attack flow follows these steps: 1. Identification of an input field or parameter in the Boot Repair utility that is passed to a shell command. 2. Injection of malicious shell metacharacters along with desired system commands. 3. The application executes the concatenated command string through a system call (e.g., system() or popen()). 4. The shell interprets the metacharacters, executing the attacker's secondary payload. 5. The arbitrary command is executed with the privileges of the Pardus Boot Repair process.\nThis vulnerability exposes the system to complete compromise. Because boot repair utilities often require root or administrator-level privileges to modify partition tables, bootloaders, or system files, the injected commands inherit these elevated permissions. Consequently, an attacker can bypass traditional user permission models, execute arbitrary code, modify system binaries, or exfiltrate sensitive boot-time information. The flaw is present in all versions starting from 1.0.7 up to, but not including, 1.0.8."
}