An exploitable vulnerability exists in the YAML loading functionality of util.py in OwlMixin before 2.0.0a12. A “Load YAML” string or file (aka load_yaml or load_yamlf) can execute arbitrary Python commands resulting in command execution because load is used where safe_load should have been used. An attacker can insert Python into loaded YAML to trigger this vulnerability.
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-16618
- https://github.com/tadashi-aikawa/owlmixin/issues/12
- https://github.com/tadashi-aikawa/owlmixin/commit/5d0575303f6df869a515ced4285f24ba721e0d4e
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-ccmq-qvcp-5mrm
- https://joel-malwarebenchmark.github.io/blog/2017/11/08/cve-2017-16618-convert-through-owlmixin/