calamares-nixos-extensions provides Calamares branding and modules for NixOS, a distribution of GNU/Linux. Users who installed NixOS through the graphical installer who used manual disk partitioning to create a setup where the system was booted via legacy BIOS rather than UEFI; some disk partitions are encrypted; but the partitions containing either `/` or `/boot` are unencrypted; have their LUKS disk encryption key file in plain text either in `/crypto_keyfile.bin`, or in a CPIO archive attached to their NixOS initrd. `nixos-install` is not affected, nor are UEFI installations, nor was the default automatic partitioning configuration on legacy BIOS systems. The problem has been fixed in calamares-nixos-extensions 0.3.17, which was included in NixOS. The current installer images for the NixOS 24.05 and unstable (24.11) channels are unaffected. The fix reached 24.05 at 2024-08-13 20:06:59 UTC, and unstable at 2024-08-15 09:00:20 UTC. Installer images downloaded before those times may be vulnerable. The best solution for affected users is probably to back up their data and do a complete reinstallation. However, the mitigation procedure in GHSA-3rvf-24q2-24ww should work solely for the case where `/` is encrypted but `/boot` is not. If `/` is unencrypted, then the `/crypto_keyfile.bin` file will need to be deleted in addition to the remediation steps in the previous advisory. This issue is a partial regression of CVE-2023-36476 / GHSA-3rvf-24q2-24ww, which was more severe as it applied to the default configuration on BIOS systems.
Metrics
CVSS Version: 3.1 |
Base Score: 7.8 HIGH Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
l➤ Exploitability Metrics: Attack Vector (AV)* LOCAL Attack Complexity (AC)* HIGH Privileges Required (PR)* NONE User Interaction (UI)* NONE Scope (S)* CHANGED
l➤ Impact Metrics: Confidentiality Impact (C)* HIGH Integrity Impact (I)* HIGH Availability Impact (A)* NONE
Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
CWE-ID: CWE-256 CWE Name: CWE-256: Plaintext Storage of a Password Source: NixOS
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)