Vulnerability Assessment & Network Security Forums

If through a vulnerability assessment, a network security issue is detected for the vulnerability below, applying the appropriate security patches in a timely matter is very important. If you have detected that your system has already been compromised, following CERT's Network Security recovery document will assist with recommended steps for system recovery.

Home >> Browse Vulnerability Assessment Database >> Mandrake Local Security Checks >> MDKSA-2003:016: util-linux

Vulnerability Assessment Details

MDKSA-2003:016: util-linux

Vulnerability Assessment Summary
Check for the version of the util-linux package

Detailed Explanation for this Vulnerability Assessment

The remote host is missing the patch for the advisory MDKSA-2003:016 (util-linux).

The util-linux package provides the mcookie utility, a tool for generating
random cookies that can be used for X authentication. The util-linux packages
that were distributed with Mandrake Linux 8.2 and 9.0 had a patch that made it
use /dev/urandom instead of /dev/random, which resulted in the mcookie being
more predictable than it would otherwise be. This patch has been removed in
these updates, giving mcookie a better source of entropy and making the
generated cookies less predictable. Thanks to Dirk Mueller for pointing this
out.

Solution : http://wwwnew.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2003:016
Network Security Threat Level: High

Networks Security ID:

Vulnerability Assessment Copyright: This script is Copyright (C) 2004 Tenable Network Security

Cables, Connectors