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Home >> Browse Vulnerability Assessment Database >> Gentoo Local Security Checks >> [GLSA-200407-01] Esearch: Insecure temp file handling

Vulnerability Assessment Details

[GLSA-200407-01] Esearch: Insecure temp file handling

Vulnerability Assessment Summary
Esearch: Insecure temp file handling

Detailed Explanation for this Vulnerability Assessment
The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-200407-01
(Esearch: Insecure temp file handling)

The eupdatedb utility uses a temporary file (/tmp/esearchdb.py.tmp) to
indicate that the eupdatedb process is running. When run, eupdatedb checks
to see if this file exists, but it does not check to see if it is a broken
symlink. In the event that the file is a broken symlink, the script will
create the file pointed to by the symlink, instead of printing an error and
exiting.

Impact

A possible hacker could create a symlink from /tmp/esearchdb.py.tmp to a
nonexistent file (such as /etc/nologin), and the file will be created the
next time esearchdb is run.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time. All users should upgrade to the
latest available version of esearch.

Solution:
All users should upgrade to the latest available version of esearch, as
follows:
# emerge sync
# emerge -pv ">=app-portage/esearch-0.6.2"
# emerge ">=app-portage/esearch-0.6.2"

Network Security Threat Level: Medium

Networks Security ID:

Vulnerability Assessment Copyright: (C) 2005 Michel Arboi

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