CVE-2022-21223
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2022-21223 is a command injection vulnerability in cocoapods-downloader that allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands on systems using vulnerable versions. The vulnerability occurs when the download function passes user-controlled parameters to the 'hg clone' command without proper sanitization. This affects developers and systems using CocoaPods with Mercurial (hg) repositories.
💻 Affected Systems
- cocoapods-downloader
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Full system compromise allowing arbitrary command execution with the privileges of the CocoaPods process, potentially leading to data theft, ransomware deployment, or complete system takeover.
Likely Case
Arbitrary command execution in build/CI/CD environments, potentially compromising build artifacts, stealing credentials, or pivoting to other systems in the network.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if proper network segmentation, least privilege principles, and input validation are implemented, potentially containing the attack to isolated build environments.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation is straightforward by crafting malicious hg repository URLs with command injection payloads. The vulnerability is well-documented with public proof-of-concept examples.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.6.2 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/CocoaPods/cocoapods-downloader/pull/127
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update cocoapods-downloader gem: 'gem update cocoapods-downloader'
2. Verify version is 1.6.2 or higher: 'gem list cocoapods-downloader'
3. Update Gemfile.lock if using Bundler: 'bundle update cocoapods-downloader'
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Mercurial support
allTemporarily disable hg repository support in CocoaPods configuration
export COCOAPODS_DISABLE_HG=1
Use Git repositories only
allConfigure CocoaPods to use only Git repositories instead of Mercurial
Modify Podfile to use git sources only
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict input validation for repository URLs in CI/CD pipelines
- Run CocoaPods in isolated containers with minimal privileges and network access
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check cocoapods-downloader version: 'gem list cocoapods-downloader | grep cocoapods-downloader'Check Version:
gem list cocoapods-downloader | grep -o '[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 1.6.2 or higher: 'gem list cocoapods-downloader' should show version >= 1.6.2📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual hg clone commands with suspicious flags
- Process execution from CocoaPods with unexpected arguments
- Failed hg repository downloads with unusual parameters
Network Indicators:
- Outbound connections from build systems to unexpected destinations
- hg protocol traffic with unusual payloads
SIEM Query:
process.name:"hg" AND cmdline:"clone" AND cmdline:("||" OR ";" OR "`" OR "$")