Security Advisory utempter security update

Advisory: RHSA-2004:174-09
Type: Security Advisory
Severity: Moderate
Issued on: 2004-05-26
Last updated on: 2004-05-26
Affected Products: Red Hat Desktop (v. 3)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (v. 2.1)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (v. 3)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (v. 2.1)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (v. 3)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS (v. 2.1)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS (v. 3)
Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation 2.1 for the Itanium Processor
OVAL: N/A
CVEs (cve.mitre.org): CVE-2004-0233

Details

An updated utempter package that fixes a potential symlink vulnerability is
now available.

Utempter is a utility that allows terminal applications such as xterm and
screen to update utmp and wtmp without requiring root privileges.

Steve Grubb discovered a flaw in Utempter which allowed device names
containing directory traversal sequences such as '/../'. In combination
with an application that trusts the utmp or wtmp files, this could allow a
local attacker the ability to overwrite privileged files using a symlink.

Users should upgrade to this new version of utempter, which fixes this
vulnerability.


Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:

rpm -Fvh [filenames]

where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade. Only those
RPMs which are currently installed will be updated. Those RPMs which are
not installed but included in the list will not be updated. Note that you
can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the
desired RPMs.

Please note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network. Many
people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.

If up2date fails to connect to Red Hat Network due to SSL
Certificate Errors, you need to install a version of the
up2date client with an updated certificate. The latest version of
up2date is available from the Red Hat FTP site and may also be
downloaded directly from the RHN website:

https://rhn.redhat.com/help/latest-up2date.pxt

Updated packages

Red Hat Desktop (v. 3)

SRPMS:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.src.rpm     bb78ec4f0201e337eca2a0da85d5aa3d
 
IA-32:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.i386.rpm     437cbd0cf70f4c106d8769022818046e
 
x86_64:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.x86_64.rpm     39e382c6a8e6a1ec5e05c5ba9bad4ee8
 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (v. 2.1)

SRPMS:
utempter-0.5.5-1.2.1EL.0.src.rpm     bfcd383f81642909da3b591dc501ea26
 
IA-32:
utempter-0.5.5-1.2.1EL.0.i386.rpm     417fb9a00960adc60d2480e76a1432e9
 
IA-64:
utempter-0.5.5-1.2.1EL.0.ia64.rpm     36023598fdb8c619e3a7ddf3071eeda8
 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (v. 3)

SRPMS:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.src.rpm     bb78ec4f0201e337eca2a0da85d5aa3d
 
IA-32:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.i386.rpm     437cbd0cf70f4c106d8769022818046e
 
IA-64:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.ia64.rpm     78a2997b4bfa09e8797aa8168db5ee99
 
PPC:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.ppc.rpm     fa912c642528d6d1785245c0bed610a3
 
s390:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.s390.rpm     d6bd211838e75ae01eed0ad10f638fae
 
s390x:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.s390x.rpm     95518a64083b9610d6d13d01991296cf
 
x86_64:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.x86_64.rpm     39e382c6a8e6a1ec5e05c5ba9bad4ee8
 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (v. 2.1)

SRPMS:
utempter-0.5.5-1.2.1EL.0.src.rpm     bfcd383f81642909da3b591dc501ea26
 
IA-32:
utempter-0.5.5-1.2.1EL.0.i386.rpm     417fb9a00960adc60d2480e76a1432e9
 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (v. 3)

SRPMS:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.src.rpm     bb78ec4f0201e337eca2a0da85d5aa3d
 
IA-32:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.i386.rpm     437cbd0cf70f4c106d8769022818046e
 
IA-64:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.ia64.rpm     78a2997b4bfa09e8797aa8168db5ee99
 
x86_64:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.x86_64.rpm     39e382c6a8e6a1ec5e05c5ba9bad4ee8
 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS (v. 2.1)

SRPMS:
utempter-0.5.5-1.2.1EL.0.src.rpm     bfcd383f81642909da3b591dc501ea26
 
IA-32:
utempter-0.5.5-1.2.1EL.0.i386.rpm     417fb9a00960adc60d2480e76a1432e9
 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS (v. 3)

SRPMS:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.src.rpm     bb78ec4f0201e337eca2a0da85d5aa3d
 
IA-32:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.i386.rpm     437cbd0cf70f4c106d8769022818046e
 
IA-64:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.ia64.rpm     78a2997b4bfa09e8797aa8168db5ee99
 
x86_64:
utempter-0.5.5-1.3EL.0.x86_64.rpm     39e382c6a8e6a1ec5e05c5ba9bad4ee8
 
Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation 2.1 for the Itanium Processor

SRPMS:
utempter-0.5.5-1.2.1EL.0.src.rpm     bfcd383f81642909da3b591dc501ea26
 
IA-64:
utempter-0.5.5-1.2.1EL.0.ia64.rpm     36023598fdb8c619e3a7ddf3071eeda8
 
(The unlinked packages above are only available from the Red Hat Network)

Bugs fixed (see bugzilla for more information)

121332 - CAN-2004-0233 utempter directory traversal symlink attack


References



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