ascopes/protobuf-maven-plugin · Security

Protobuf Maven Plugin protocDigest is ignored when using protoc from PATH

GHSA ID
GHSA-j2pc-v64r-mv4f
Severity
low
Published
Updated
CVSS v4
1 · CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:A/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:L/SA:N

Description

Summary

The expected protocDigest is ignored when protoc is taken from the PATH.

Details

The documentation for the protocDigest parameter says:

... Users may wish to specify this if using a PATH-based binary ...

However, when specifying <protoc>PATH</protoc> the protocDigest is not actually checked because the code returns here already https://github.com/ascopes/protobuf-maven-plugin/blob/59097aae8062c461129a13dcda2f4116b90a8765/protobuf-maven-plugin/src/main/java/io/github/ascopes/protobufmavenplugin/protoc/ProtocResolver.java#L91-L93

before the digest check: https://github.com/ascopes/protobuf-maven-plugin/blob/59097aae8062c461129a13dcda2f4116b90a8765/protobuf-maven-plugin/src/main/java/io/github/ascopes/protobufmavenplugin/protoc/ProtocResolver.java#L106

PoC

Specify:

<protoc>PATH</protoc>
<protocDigest>sha256:0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000</protocDigest>

And notice how the protoc on the PATH is not rejected, despite a digest mismatch.

Impact

Users who have an untrusted protoc executable on their PATH and rely <protocDigest> as protection are affected.

CWEs

References