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Red Hat 6: RHSA-2011:0395-01 Moderate: gdm Privilege Escalation

red hat
Calendar Grey March 28, 2011
Dist Redhat Esm H88
The latest advisory RHSA-2011:0396-01 from Red Hat presents an important gnome-screensaver security update to mitigate a potential authentication bypass vulnerability.
Updated gdm packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Solution

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

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Summary

The GNOME Display Manager (GDM) provides the graphical login screen, shown shortly after boot up, log out, and when user-switching.
A race condition flaw was found in the way GDM handled the cache directories used to store users' dmrc and face icon files. A local attacker could use this flaw to trick GDM into changing the ownership of an arbitrary file via a symbolic link attack, allowing them to escalate their privileges. (CVE-2011-0727)
Red Hat would like to thank Sebastian Krahmer of the SuSE Security Team for reporting this issue.
All users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to correct this issue. GDM must be restarted for this update to take effect. Rebooting achieves this, but changing the runlevel from 5 to 3 and back to 5 also restarts GDM.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory moderate Red Hat update privilege escalation gdm Linux

References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2011-0727 https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification#moderate

Package List

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6):
Source:
i386: gdm-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-libs-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-plugin-fingerprint-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-plugin-smartcard-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-user-switch-applet-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm
x86_64: gdm-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm gdm-libs-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-libs-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm gdm-plugin-fingerprint-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm gdm-plugin-smartcard-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm gdm-user-switch-applet-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6):
Source:
x86_64: gdm-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm gdm-libs-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-libs-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm gdm-plugin-fingerprint-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm gdm-plugin-smartcard-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm gdm-user-switch-applet-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6):
Source:
i386: gdm-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-libs-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm gdm-plugin-fingerprint-2.30.4-21.el6_0.1.i686.rpm

Read the Full Advisory


Advisory ID: RHSA-2011:0395-01
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Advisory URL: https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2011:0395.html
Issue date: 2011-03-28

Topic

Updated gdm packages that fix one security issue are now available for RedHat Enterprise Linux 6.The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderatesecurity impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score,which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link inthe References section.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory moderate Red Hat update privilege escalation gdm Linux

Relevant Releases Architectures

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) - i386, ppc64, s390x, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

Bugs Fixed

688323 - CVE-2011-0727 gdm: privilege escalation vulnerability

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