vulnerability / NVI-00016214 / Revision 1
Glances has Insecure Pickle Deserialization in its Version Cache that Leads to Arbitrary Code Execution
GitHub lists this reviewed advisory for glances. Published version ranges and source prerequisites are shown below; this is not an inspection of a visitor’s application.
This report has not inspected your inventory, configuration, deployed build, reachability or evidence. A catalog listing and a severity score do not establish exposure or compromise.
01 / Meaning
Why it matters
Published affected context helps an owner decide what evidence to gather. This report has not examined your application.
7.8 high
GitHub source severity; exploitability and local consequence require separate evidence.
As of · GitHub Advisory Database
02 / Applicability
The affected context
Affected versions, configuration prerequisites and known exclusions are public. Confirm each one against the deployed service.
glances
source listed< 4.5.5
### Summary `glances/outdated.py` uses `pickle.load()` to read a version-check cache file stored at a predictable, world-accessible path (`~/.cache/glances/glances-version.db` or `$XDG_CACHE_HOME/glances/glances-version.db`). No integrity check, signature verification, or format validation is performed before deserialization. An attacker with write access to that path — through any of several realistic local or container-level scenarios — can plant a malicious pickle file and achieve arbitrary code execution as the OS user running Glances the next time it starts with version checking enabled (the default). --- ### Details **Affected file:** `glances/outdated.py`, method `Outdated._load_cache()`, line 121 **Direct URL (commit 04579778e733d705898a169e049dc84772c852da):** - https://github.com/nicolargo/glances/blob/04579778e733d705898a169e049dc84772c852da/glances/outdated.py#L121 ```python # outdated.py (_load_cache, line 119-127) try: with open(self.cache_file, 'rb') as f: cached_data = pickle.load(f) # ← no integrity check except Exception as e: logger.debug(f"Cannot read version from cache file: {self.cache_file} ({e})") ... ``` `self.cache_fil
03 / Response
What to do next
- investigate
Identify the exact component and deployed version, examine the linked publisher’s conditions, and retain evidence of any mitigation.
Confirm current vendor support, compatibility and deployment evidence. This report has not tested a fix in your system. GitHub Advisory Database
A fixed release is not deployment evidence.
Check current vendor support and compatibility. After making a change, verify the deployed build and relevant runtime conditions. Keep the evidence, owner and time. An updated lockfile alone does not prove what is running.
04 / Limits
What this report cannot establish
- Customer inventory, deployment, reachability and exploitation have not been inspected.
05 / Provenance
Sources you can inspect
Each assertion retains its source. Mirrored records may repeat one underlying publisher; additional links are not independent corroboration.
- GHSA-9837-48hr-q32j ↗
GitHub Advisory Database · vendor advisory
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Public revision history
Only published revisions appear here. Routine fetches do not create a material-change event.
- Revision 1 ·
First indexed by Null; source disclosure date is shown separately.