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Home >> Browse Vulnerability Assessment Database >> Ubuntu Local Security Checks >> USN235-2 : sudo vulnerability

Vulnerability Assessment Details

USN235-2 : sudo vulnerability

Vulnerability Assessment Summary
sudo vulnerability

Detailed Explanation for this Vulnerability Assessment

Summary :

The remote package "sudo" is missing a security patch.

Description :

USN-235-1 fixed a vulnerability in sudo's handling of environment
variables. Tavis Ormandy noticed that sudo did not filter out the
PYTHONINSPECT environment variable, so that users with the limited
privilege of calling a python script with sudo could still escalate
their rights.

For reference, this is the original advisory:

Charles Morris discovered a privilege escalation vulnerability in
sudo. On executing Perl scripts with sudo, various environment
variables that affect Perl's library search path were not cleaned
properly. If sudo is set up to grant limited sudo execution of Perl
scripts to normal users, this could be exploited to run arbitrary
commands as the target user.

This security update also filters out environment variables that can
be exploited similarly with Python, Ruby, and zsh scripts.

Please note that this does not affect the default Ubuntu
installation,
or any setup that just grants full root rights to certain users.

Solution :

Upgrade to :
- sudo-1.6.8p9-2ubuntu2.3 (Ubuntu 5.10)

Network Security Threat Level: High

Networks Security ID:

Vulnerability Assessment Copyright: Ubuntu Security Notice (C) 2005 Canonical, Inc. / NASL script (C) 2005 Michel Arboi

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