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Home >> Browse Vulnerability Assessment Database >> Gentoo Local Security Checks >> [GLSA-200404-01] Insecure sandbox temporary lockfile vulnerabilities in Portage

Vulnerability Assessment Details

[GLSA-200404-01] Insecure sandbox temporary lockfile vulnerabilities in Portage

Vulnerability Assessment Summary
Insecure sandbox temporary lockfile vulnerabilities in Portage

Detailed Explanation for this Vulnerability Assessment
The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-200404-01
(Insecure sandbox temporary lockfile vulnerabilities in Portage)

A flaw in Portage's sandbox wrapper has been found where the temporary
lockfiles are subject to a hard-link attack which permits linkable files to
be overwritten to an empty file. This can be used to damage critical files
on a system causing a Denial of Service, or alternatively this attack may
be used to cause other security risks
for example firewall configuration
data could be overwritten without notice.
The vulnerable sandbox functions have been patched to test for these new
conditions: namely
for the existance of a hard-link which would be removed
before the sandbox process would continue, for the existance of a
world-writable lockfile in which case the sandbox would also remove it, and
also for any mismatches in the UID ( anything but root ) and the GID (
anything but the group of the sandbox process ).
If the vulnerable files cannot be removed by the sandbox, then the sandbox
would exit with a fatal error warning the adminstrator of the issue. The
patched functions also fix any other sandbox I/O operations which do not
explicitly include the mentioned lockfile.

Impact

Any user with write access to the /tmp directory can hard-link a file to
/tmp/sandboxpids.tmp - this file would eventually be replaced with an empty
one
effectively wiping out the file it was linked to as well with no prior
warning. This could be used to potentially disable a vital component of the
system and cause a path for other possible exploits.
This vulnerability only affects systems that have /tmp on the root
partition: since symbolic link attacks are filtered, /tmp has to be on the
same partition for an attack to take place.

Workaround

A workaround is not currently known for this issue. All users are advised
to upgrade to the latest version of the affected package.

Solution:
Users should upgrade to Portage 2.0.50-r3 or later:
# emerge sync
# emerge -pv ">=sys-apps/portage-2.0.50-r3"
# emerge ">=sys-apps/portage-2.0.50-r3"

Network Security Threat Level: Medium

Networks Security ID:

Vulnerability Assessment Copyright: (C) 2005 Michel Arboi

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