CVE-2023-38497

Summary

CVE-2023-38497 is a vulnerability that affects Cargo, a dependency management tool for the Rust programming language. Versions of Cargo prior to 0.72.2, bundled with Rust prior to 1.71.1, did not properly handle file permissions when extracting crate archives on UNIX-like systems. This allowed another local user to exploit the vulnerability and modify the source code compiled and executed by the current user if they downloaded a crate containing files writable by any local user. To mitigate this vulnerability, users should update to Cargo version 0.72.2 included in Rust 1.71.1 or later, which automatically purges older Cargo version caches that may be exploitable. As an additional precautionary measure, it is recommended to configure systems to restrict access to the Cargo directory from other local users. This vulnerability poses a high risk to organizations as it can lead to unauthorized modifications of source code, potentially compromising system integrity and confidentiality of data.

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