Explore top 10 tips to secure your open-source projects now. Read More

×
Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 443
Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 443

Red Hat 6: RHSA-2011:0455-01 Critical: Polkit Privilege Escalation

red hat
Calendar Grey April 19, 2011
Dist Redhat Esm H88
A critical security patch issued by Red Hat for polkit rectifies significant vulnerabilities in system permissions that could result in unauthorized privilege elevation.
Updated polkit 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

PolicyKit is a toolkit for defining and handling authorizations.
A race condition flaw was found in the PolicyKit pkexec utility and polkitd daemon. A local user could use this flaw to appear as a privileged user to pkexec, allowing them to execute arbitrary commands as root by running those commands with pkexec. (CVE-2011-1485)
Red Hat would like to thank Neel Mehta of Google for reporting this issue.
All polkit users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct this issue. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory Red Hat critical privilege escalation important polkit

References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2011-1485 https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#important

Package List

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6):
Source:
i386: polkit-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-debuginfo-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm
noarch: polkit-desktop-policy-0.96-2.el6_0.1.noarch.rpm
x86_64: polkit-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-0.96-2.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm polkit-debuginfo-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-debuginfo-0.96-2.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6):
Source:
i386: polkit-debuginfo-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-devel-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-docs-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm
x86_64: polkit-debuginfo-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-debuginfo-0.96-2.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm polkit-devel-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-devel-0.96-2.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm polkit-docs-0.96-2.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6):
Source:
x86_64: polkit-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-0.96-2.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm polkit-debuginfo-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-debuginfo-0.96-2.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6):
Source:
noarch: polkit-desktop-policy-0.96-2.el6_0.1.noarch.rpm
x86_64: polkit-debuginfo-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-debuginfo-0.96-2.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm polkit-devel-0.96-2.el6_0.1.i686.rpm polkit-devel-0.96-2.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm polkit-docs-0.96-2.el6_0.1.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6):
Source:


Read the Full Advisory


Severity
important
Lowest
Low
Medium
High
Critical

Advisory ID: RHSA-2011:0455-01
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Advisory URL: https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2011:0455.html
Issue date: 2011-04-19

Topic

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

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory Red Hat critical privilege escalation important polkit

Relevant Releases Architectures

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bugs Fixed

692922 - CVE-2011-1485 polkitd/pkexec vulnerability

Get the latest News and Insights

Get the latest Linux and open source security news straight to your inbox.