Fedora Legacy Update Advisory

Synopsis:          Updated utempter resolves security vulnerability
Advisory ID:       FLSA:1546
Issue date:        2004-05-18
Product:           Red Hat Linux
Keywords:          Security
Cross references:   
CVE Names:         CAN-2004-0233
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1. Topic:

An updated utempter package that fixes a potential symlink vulnerability is
now available.

2. Relevent releases/architectures:

Red Hat Linux 7.2 - i386
Red Hat Linux 7.3 - i386
Red Hat Linux 8.0 - i386

3. Problem description:

Utempter is a utility that allows terminal applications such as xterm and 
screen to update utmp and wtmp without requiring root privileges.

Steve Grubb discovered a flaw in Utempter which allowed device names 
containing directory traversal sequences such as '/../'. In combination 
with an application that trusts the utmp or wtmp files, this could allow a 
local attacker the ability to overwrite privileged files using a symlink.

Users should upgrade to this new version of utempter, which fixes this 
vulnerability.

Fedora Legacy would like to thank Barry K. Nathan for notification of this 
issue.

4. Solution:

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata 
relevant to your system have been applied.

To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:

rpm -Fvh [filenames]

where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade.  Only those 
RPMs which are currently installed will be updated.  Those RPMs which are 
not installed but included in the list will not be updated.  Note that you 
can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains 
the desired RPMs.

Please note that this update is also available via yum and apt.  Many 
people find this an easier way to apply updates.  To use yum issue:

yum update

or to use apt:

apt-get update; apt-get upgrade

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate 
RPMs being upgraded on your system.  This assumes that you have yum or 
apt-get configured for obtaining Fedora Legacy content. Please visit  
  for directions on how to configure yum 
and apt-get.

5. Bug IDs fixed:
 
  - 1546 - utempter symlink vulnerability

6. RPMs required:

Red Hat Linux 7.2:

SRPM: 
 

i386: 
 

Red Hat Linux 7.3:

SRPM: 
 

i386: 
 

Red Hat Linux 8.0:

SRPM: 
 

i386: 
 

7. Verification:

SHA1 sum                                 Package Name
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739587d500bf401d83a5f2b01195ca8b5c81bed7 
7.2/updates/SRPMS/utempter-0.5.2-6.7.x.1.legacy.src.rpm
021ec30fe6404f2eb74eee160a339fbd003c1b97 
7.2/updates/i386/utempter-0.5.2-6.7.x.1.legacy.i386.rpm

739587d500bf401d83a5f2b01195ca8b5c81bed7 
7.3/updates/SRPMS/utempter-0.5.2-6.7.x.1.legacy.src.rpm
021ec30fe6404f2eb74eee160a339fbd003c1b97 
7.3/updates/i386/utempter-0.5.2-6.7.x.1.legacy.i386.rpm

afc6bf313598d51e6a1ab9f83a8c1a0b244d167b  
8.0/updates/SRPMS/utempter-0.5.2-10.8.0.1.legacy.src.rpm
de4579faebfb0a5981be4ed2d1cf4b4ade396f41  
8.0/updates/i386/utempter-0.5.2-10.8.0.1.legacy.i386.rpm


These packages are GPG signed by Fedora Legacy for security.  Our key is 
available from   

You can verify each package with the following command:

    rpm --checksig -v 

If you only wish to verify that each package has not been corrupted or 
tampered with, examine only the sha1sum with the following command:

    sha1sum 

8. References: 
CVE -CVE-2004-0233
 
 


9. Contact:

The Fedora Legacy security contact is <secnotice@fedoralegacy.org>. More 
project details at  http://www.fedoralegacy.org

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Jesse Keating RHCE	 ( )
Fedora Legacy Team	 (http://www.fedoralegacy.org)