src: disallow direct .bat and .cmd file spawning

An undocumented feature of the Win32 CreateProcess API allows spawning
batch files directly but is potentially insecure because arguments are
not escaped (and sometimes cannot be unambiguously escaped), hence why
they are refused starting today.

PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs-private/node-private/pull/560
Reviewed-By: Matteo Collina <matteo.collina@gmail.com>
Reviewed-By: Michael Dawson <midawson@redhat.com>
Reviewed-By: Rafael Gonzaga <rafael.nunu@hotmail.com>
CVE-ID: CVE-2024-27980

benchmark/_http-benchmarkers.js

@@ -12,11 +12,16 @@ exports.PORT = Number(process.env.PORT) || 12346;
 
 class AutocannonBenchmarker {
   constructor() {
+    const shell = (process.platform === 'win32');
     this.name = 'autocannon';
-    this.executable =
-      process.platform === 'win32' ? 'autocannon.cmd' : 'autocannon';
-    const result = child_process.spawnSync(this.executable, ['-h']);
-    this.present = !(result.error && result.error.code === 'ENOENT');
+    this.opts = { shell };
+    this.executable = shell ? 'autocannon.cmd' : 'autocannon';
+    const result = child_process.spawnSync(this.executable, ['-h'], this.opts);
+    if (shell) {
+      this.present = (result.status === 0);
+    } else {
+      this.present = !(result.error && result.error.code === 'ENOENT');
+    }
   }
 
   create(options) {
@@ -27,11 +32,15 @@ class AutocannonBenchmarker {
       '-n',
     ];
     for (const field in options.headers) {
-      args.push('-H', `${field}=${options.headers[field]}`);
+      if (this.opts.shell) {
+        args.push('-H', `'${field}=${options.headers[field]}'`);
+      } else {
+        args.push('-H', `${field}=${options.headers[field]}`);
+      }
     }
     const scheme = options.scheme || 'http';
     args.push(`${scheme}://127.0.0.1:${options.port}${options.path}`);
-    const child = child_process.spawn(this.executable, args);
+    const child = child_process.spawn(this.executable, args, this.opts);
     return child;
   }
 

src/node_revert.h

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 namespace node {
 
 #define SECURITY_REVERSIONS(XX)                                            \
+  XX(CVE_2024_27980, "CVE-2024-27980", "Unsafe Windows batch file execution")
 //  XX(CVE_2016_PEND, "CVE-2016-PEND", "Vulnerability Title")
 
 enum reversion {

src/process_wrap.cc

@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ class ProcessWrap : public HandleWrap {
     ASSIGN_OR_RETURN_UNWRAP(&wrap, args.Holder());
     THROW_IF_INSUFFICIENT_PERMISSIONS(
         env, permission::PermissionScope::kChildProcess, "");
+    int err = 0;
 
     Local<Object> js_options =
         args[0]->ToObject(env->context()).ToLocalChecked();
@@ -195,6 +196,13 @@ class ProcessWrap : public HandleWrap {
     node::Utf8Value file(env->isolate(), file_v);
     options.file = *file;
 
+    // Undocumented feature of Win32 CreateProcess API allows spawning
+    // batch files directly but is potentially insecure because arguments
+    // are not escaped (and sometimes cannot be unambiguously escaped),
+    // hence why they are rejected here.
+    if (IsWindowsBatchFile(options.file))
+      err = UV_EINVAL;
+
     // options.args
     Local<Value> argv_v =
         js_options->Get(context, env->args_string()).ToLocalChecked();
@@ -272,8 +280,10 @@ class ProcessWrap : public HandleWrap {
       options.flags |= UV_PROCESS_DETACHED;
     }
 
-    int err = uv_spawn(env->event_loop(), &wrap->process_, &options);
-    wrap->MarkAsInitialized();
+    if (err == 0) {
+      err = uv_spawn(env->event_loop(), &wrap->process_, &options);
+      wrap->MarkAsInitialized();
+    }
 
     if (err == 0) {
       CHECK_EQ(wrap->process_.data, wrap);

src/spawn_sync.cc

@@ -765,6 +765,13 @@ Maybe<int> SyncProcessRunner::ParseOptions(Local<Value> js_value) {
   if (r < 0) return Just(r);
   uv_process_options_.file = file_buffer_;
 
+  // Undocumented feature of Win32 CreateProcess API allows spawning
+  // batch files directly but is potentially insecure because arguments
+  // are not escaped (and sometimes cannot be unambiguously escaped),
+  // hence why they are rejected here.
+  if (IsWindowsBatchFile(uv_process_options_.file))
+    return Just<int>(UV_EINVAL);
+
   Local<Value> js_args =
       js_options->Get(context, env()->args_string()).ToLocalChecked();
   if (!CopyJsStringArray(js_args, &args_buffer_).To(&r)) return Nothing<int>();

src/util-inl.h

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include <cmath>
 #include <cstring>
 #include <locale>
+#include "node_revert.h"
 #include "util.h"
 
 // These are defined by <sys/byteorder.h> or <netinet/in.h> on some systems.
@@ -639,6 +640,20 @@ constexpr std::string_view FastStringKey::as_string_view() const {
   return name_;
 }
 
+// Inline so the compiler can fully optimize it away on Unix platforms.
+bool IsWindowsBatchFile(const char* filename) {
+#ifdef _WIN32
+  static constexpr bool kIsWindows = true;
+#else
+  static constexpr bool kIsWindows = false;
+#endif  // _WIN32
+  if (kIsWindows)
+    if (!IsReverted(SECURITY_REVERT_CVE_2024_27980))
+      if (const char* p = strrchr(filename, '.'))
+        return StringEqualNoCase(p, ".bat") || StringEqualNoCase(p, ".cmd");
+  return false;
+}
+
 }  // namespace node
 
 #endif  // defined(NODE_WANT_INTERNALS) && NODE_WANT_INTERNALS

src/util.h

@@ -1032,6 +1032,10 @@ v8::Maybe<int> GetValidFileMode(Environment* env,
                                 v8::Local<v8::Value> input,
                                 uv_fs_type type);
 
+// Returns true if OS==Windows and filename ends in .bat or .cmd,
+// case insensitive.
+inline bool IsWindowsBatchFile(const char* filename);
+
 }  // namespace node
 
 #endif  // defined(NODE_WANT_INTERNALS) && NODE_WANT_INTERNALS

test/parallel/test-child-process-spawn-windows-batch-file.js

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// Node.js on Windows should not be able to spawn batch files directly,
+// only when the 'shell' option is set. An undocumented feature of the
+// Win32 CreateProcess API allows spawning .bat and .cmd files directly
+// but it does not sanitize arguments. We cannot do that automatically
+// because it's sometimes impossible to escape arguments unambiguously.
+//
+// Expectation: spawn() and spawnSync() raise EINVAL if and only if:
+//
+// 1. 'shell' option is unset
+// 2. Platform is Windows
+// 3. Filename ends in .bat or .cmd, case-insensitive
+//
+// exec() and execSync() are unchanged.
+
+const common = require('../common');
+const cp = require('child_process');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const { isWindows } = common;
+
+const arg = '--security-revert=CVE-2024-27980';
+const isRevert = process.execArgv.includes(arg);
+
+const expectedCode = isWindows && !isRevert ? 'EINVAL' : 'ENOENT';
+const expectedStatus = isWindows ? 1 : 127;
+
+const suffixes =
+    'BAT bAT BaT baT BAt bAt Bat bat CMD cMD CmD cmD CMd cMd Cmd cmd'
+    .split(' ');
+
+if (process.argv[2] === undefined) {
+  const a = cp.spawnSync(process.execPath, [__filename, 'child']);
+  const b = cp.spawnSync(process.execPath, [arg, __filename, 'child']);
+  assert.strictEqual(a.status, 0);
+  assert.strictEqual(b.status, 0);
+  return;
+}
+
+function testExec(filename) {
+  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+    cp.exec(filename).once('exit', common.mustCall(function(status) {
+      assert.strictEqual(status, expectedStatus);
+      resolve();
+    }));
+  });
+}
+
+function testExecSync(filename) {
+  let e;
+  try {
+    cp.execSync(filename);
+  } catch (_e) {
+    e = _e;
+  }
+  if (!e) throw new Error(`Exception expected for ${filename}`);
+  assert.strictEqual(e.status, expectedStatus);
+}
+
+function testSpawn(filename, code) {
+  // Batch file case is a synchronous error, file-not-found is asynchronous.
+  if (code === 'EINVAL') {
+    let e;
+    try {
+      cp.spawn(filename);
+    } catch (_e) {
+      e = _e;
+    }
+    if (!e) throw new Error(`Exception expected for ${filename}`);
+    assert.strictEqual(e.code, code);
+  } else {
+    return new Promise((resolve) => {
+      cp.spawn(filename).once('error', common.mustCall(function(e) {
+        assert.strictEqual(e.code, code);
+        resolve();
+      }));
+    });
+  }
+}
+
+function testSpawnSync(filename, code) {
+  {
+    const r = cp.spawnSync(filename);
+    assert.strictEqual(r.error.code, code);
+  }
+  {
+    const r = cp.spawnSync(filename, { shell: true });
+    assert.strictEqual(r.status, expectedStatus);
+  }
+}
+
+testExecSync('./nosuchdir/nosuchfile');
+testSpawnSync('./nosuchdir/nosuchfile', 'ENOENT');
+for (const suffix of suffixes) {
+  testExecSync(`./nosuchdir/nosuchfile.${suffix}`);
+  testSpawnSync(`./nosuchdir/nosuchfile.${suffix}`, expectedCode);
+}
+
+go().catch((ex) => { throw ex; });
+
+async function go() {
+  await testExec('./nosuchdir/nosuchfile');
+  await testSpawn('./nosuchdir/nosuchfile', 'ENOENT');
+  for (const suffix of suffixes) {
+    await testExec(`./nosuchdir/nosuchfile.${suffix}`);
+    await testSpawn(`./nosuchdir/nosuchfile.${suffix}`, expectedCode);
+  }
+}