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Gentoo Linux Security Advisory                           GLSA 200810-02
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                                            https://security.gentoo.org/
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  Severity: High
     Title: Portage: Untrusted search path local root vulnerability
      Date: October 09, 2008
      Bugs: #239560
        ID: 200810-02

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Synopsis
=======
A search path vulnerability in Portage allows local attackers to
execute commands with root privileges if emerge is called from
untrusted directories.

Background
=========
Portage is Gentoo's package manager which is responsible for
installing, compiling and updating all packages on the system through
the Gentoo rsync tree.

Affected packages
================
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
     Package           /  Vulnerable  /                     Unaffected
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
  1  sys-apps/portage      < 2.1.4.5                        >= 2.1.4.5

Description
==========
The Gentoo Security Team discovered that several ebuilds, such as
sys-apps/portage, net-mail/fetchmail or app-editors/leo execute Python
code using "python -c", which includes the current working directory in
Python's module search path. For several ebuild functions, Portage did
not change the working directory from emerge's working directory.

Impact
=====
A local attacker could place a specially crafted Python module in a
directory (such as /tmp) and entice the root user to run commands such
as "emerge sys-apps/portage" from that directory, resulting in the
execution of arbitrary Python code with root privileges.

Workaround
=========
Do not run "emerge" from untrusted working directories.

Resolution
=========
All Portage users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # cd /root
    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=sys-apps/portage-2.1.4.5"

NOTE: To upgrade to Portage 2.1.4.5 using 2.1.4.4 or prior, you must
run emerge from a trusted working directory, such as "/root".

References
=========
  [ 1 ] CVE-2008-4394
        http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-4394

Availability
===========
This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at
the Gentoo Security Website:

  https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/200810-02

Concerns?
========
Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the
confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost
importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to
security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at
https://bugs.gentoo.org/.

License
======
Copyright 2008 Gentoo Foundation, Inc; referenced text
belongs to its owner(s).

The contents of this document are licensed under the
Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike license.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/