CVE-2020-15238 – CVE-2020-15238 is an argument injection vulnera... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2020-15238?

CVE-2020-15238 has a CVSS score of 7.1 (HIGH). CVE-2020-15238 is an argument injection vulnerability in Blueman's D-Bus interface that allows local attackers to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges. The impact varies based on system configuration: with Polkit-1 disabled or on older versions, any local user can exploit it; with Polkit-1 enabled, exploitation requires membership in the wheel group. This vulnerability affects systems using Blueman for Bluetooth management.

📋 TL;DR

CVE-2020-15238 is an argument injection vulnerability in Blueman's D-Bus interface that allows local attackers to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges. The impact varies based on system configuration: with Polkit-1 disabled or on older versions, any local user can exploit it; with Polkit-1 enabled, exploitation requires membership in the wheel group. This vulnerability affects systems using Blueman for Bluetooth management.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

Blueman Bluetooth Manager

Versions: All versions before 2.1.4

Operating Systems: Linux distributions with Blueman installed

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Vulnerability severity depends on Polkit-1 configuration: systems with Polkit-1 disabled or versions before 2.0.6 are most vulnerable. Systems with ISC DHCP client (dhclient) allow interface manipulation, while systems with dhcpcd allow arbitrary script execution.

📦 What is this software?

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Full system compromise via arbitrary command execution as root, including network interface manipulation, XDP/BPF program injection, or arbitrary script execution depending on DHCP client configuration.

🟠

Likely Case

Local privilege escalation allowing authenticated users to gain root access and potentially disrupt network services or execute limited commands.

🟢

If Mitigated

Limited to users already in the wheel group with Polkit-1 enabled, reducing the attack surface significantly.

🌐 Internet-Facing: LOW - This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability requiring local access to the system.

🏢 Internal Only: HIGH - Any local user on affected systems can potentially gain root privileges depending on configuration.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ⚠️ Yes

Weaponized: CONFIRMED

Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No

Complexity: LOW

Exploit code is publicly available in Packet Storm Security. Requires local access to the system. Exploitation is straightforward for attackers with the required privileges based on system configuration.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 2.1.4

Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/blueman-project/blueman/security/advisories/GHSA-jpc9-mgw6-2xwx

Restart Required: No

Instructions:

1. Update Blueman to version 2.1.4 or later using your distribution's package manager. 2. For Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade blueman. 3. For other distributions, use the appropriate package manager command. 4. Verify the update was successful.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Enable and Configure Polkit-1

linux

Ensure Polkit-1 is enabled and restrict the org.blueman.dhcp.client action to trusted users only in the Polkit rules file.

sudo systemctl status polkit
sudo nano /usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d/blueman.rules

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Ensure Polkit-1 is enabled and properly configured to limit the org.blueman.dhcp.client action to users who already have root privileges.
Remove unnecessary users from the wheel group and restrict local access to systems running vulnerable Blueman versions.

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check Blueman version: blueman-applet --version or dpkg -l | grep blueman. If version is earlier than 2.1.4, the system is vulnerable.

Check Version:

blueman-applet --version || dpkg -l | grep blueman || rpm -q blueman

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify Blueman version is 2.1.4 or later: blueman-applet --version. Check that the update was applied successfully.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Unusual D-Bus calls to org.blueman.Mechanism.DhcpClient
Suspicious interface name arguments passed to dhclient or dhcpcd
Unexpected network interface changes or script executions

Network Indicators:

Sudden network interface changes on Bluetooth-enabled systems
Unexpected DHCP client activity

SIEM Query:

process_name:dhclient AND command_line:*link* OR process_name:dhcpcd AND command_line:*-c*

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2020-15238

CVSS v3 Score: 7.1 (HIGH)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:L

CWE: CWE-74

Published: October 27, 2020

Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159740/Blueman-Local-Root-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit,Third Party Advisory,VDB Entry
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/blueman/+bug/1897287 Exploit,Issue Tracking,Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/blueman-project/blueman/releases/tag/2.1.4 Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/blueman-project/blueman/security/advisories/GHSA-jpc9-mgw6-2xwx Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/11/msg00005.html Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/3F4EQU6CAPBKAPJ42HTB473NJLXFKB32/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/6CFLMNHAHX5HPIKC5IG6F25HO5Z6RH2N/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/W52NP7HRFTNAVNZLGKY4GR3JIZG5KKGS/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-11 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4781 Third Party Advisory
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159740/Blueman-Local-Root-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit,Third Party Advisory,VDB Entry
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/blueman/+bug/1897287 Exploit,Issue Tracking,Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/blueman-project/blueman/releases/tag/2.1.4 Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/blueman-project/blueman/security/advisories/GHSA-jpc9-mgw6-2xwx Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/11/msg00005.html Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/3F4EQU6CAPBKAPJ42HTB473NJLXFKB32/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/6CFLMNHAHX5HPIKC5IG6F25HO5Z6RH2N/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/W52NP7HRFTNAVNZLGKY4GR3JIZG5KKGS/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-11 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4781 Third Party Advisory

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📋 TL;DR

💻 Affected Systems

📦 What is this software?

Blueman by Blueman Project

Debian Linux by Debian

Debian Linux by Debian

Fedora by Fedoraproject

Fedora by Fedoraproject

Fedora by Fedoraproject

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

Worst Case

Likely Case

If Mitigated

🎯 Exploit Status

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Instructions:

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Enable and Configure Polkit-1

🧯 If You Can't Patch

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check Version:

Verify Fix Applied:

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Network Indicators:

SIEM Query:

📊 Metadata

🔗 References

📤 Share & Export

🔗 Related Vulnerabilities