CVE-2021-43811 Explained : Impact and Mitigation

A vulnerability in Sockeye, an open-source Neural Machine Translation framework, allows for code injection via unsafe YAML loading.

Understanding CVE-2021-43811

Sockeye below version 2.3.24 is vulnerable to code injection through malicious config files.

What is CVE-2021-43811?

Sockeye, a sequence-to-sequence framework, uses unsafe YAML loading in versions < 2.3.24
Attackers can embed arbitrary code in config files, leading to code execution on user systems

The Impact of CVE-2021-43811

CVSS Score: 7.8 (High)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: None
Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability Impact: High
Users need to interact with the malicious model for exploitation

Technical Details of CVE-2021-43811

Sockeye's vulnerability to code injection through unsafe YAML loading.

Vulnerability Description

Versions below 2.3.24 allow attackers to execute arbitrary code embedded in config files

Affected Systems and Versions

Product: Sockeye
Vendor: AWS Labs
Vulnerable Versions: < 2.3.24

Exploitation Mechanism

Attackers add malicious code to a model's config file
Users download and run the trained model containing the malicious code
Upon running, the embedded code executes locally

Mitigation and Prevention

Steps to secure systems and prevent exploitation.

Immediate Steps to Take

Update Sockeye to version 2.3.24 to fix the vulnerability
Avoid downloading or running models from untrusted sources

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly update software to apply security patches
Validate inputs to prevent code injection attacks

Patching and Updates

Update to version 2.3.24 to patch the code injection vulnerability