Debian 2.2: DSA-032-1 Critical Proftpd Root Issue And Symlink Concern

Package: proftpd
Vulnerability: proftpd running as root, /var symlink removal
Debian-specific: yes

The following problems have been reported for the version of proftpd in
Debian 2.2 (potato):

1. There is a configuration error in the postinst script, when the user
enters 'yes', when asked if anonymous access should be enabled.
The postinst script wrongly leaves the 'run as uid/gid root' configuration
option in /etc/proftpd.conf, and adds a 'run as uid/gid nobody' option that
has no effect.

2. There is a bug that comes up when /var is a symlink, and proftpd is
restarted. When stopping proftpd, the /var symlink is removed; when it's
started again a file named /var is created.

The above problems have been corrected in proftpd-1.2.0pre10-2.0potato1.
We recommend you upgrade your proftpd package immediately.

wget url
will fetch the file for you
dpkg -i file.deb
will install the referenced file.

You may use an automated update by adding the resources from the
footer to the proper configuration.


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