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Red Hat 5 RHSA-2009-1364-02 Low: GDM Update Fixes Security Issues

red hat
Calendar Grey September 2, 2009
Dist Redhat Esm H88
This patch addresses vulnerabilities and assorted glitches in gdm, improving the overall functionality for users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Updated gdm packages that fix a security issue and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Solution

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

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at

Summary

The GNOME Display Manager (GDM) is a configurable re-implementation of XDM, the X Display Manager. GDM allows you to log in to your system with the X Window System running, and supports running several different X sessions on your local machine at the same time.
A flaw was found in the way the gdm package was built. The gdm package was missing TCP wrappers support, which could result in an administrator believing they had access restrictions enabled when they did not. (CVE-2009-2697)
This update also fixes the following bugs:
* the GDM Reference Manual is now included with the gdm packages. The gdm-docs package installs this document in HTML format in "/usr/share/doc/". (BZ#196054)
* GDM appeared in English on systems using Telugu (te_IN). With this update, GDM has been localized in te_IN. (BZ#226931)
* the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace sequence resets the X server when in runlevel 5. In previous releases, however, repeated use of this sequence prevented GDM from starting the X server as part of the reset process. This was because GDM sometimes did not notice the X server shutdown properly and would subsequently fail to complete the reset process. This update contains an added check to explicitly notify GDM whenever the X server is terminated, ensuring that resets are executed reliably. (BZ#441971)
* the "gdm" user is now part of the "audio" group by default. This enables audio support at the login screen. (BZ#458331)
* the gui/modules/dwellmouselistener.c source code contained incorrect XInput code that prevented tablet devices from working properly. This update removes the errant code, ensuring that tablet devices work as expected. (BZ#473262)
* a bug in the XOpenDevice() function prevented the X server from starting whenever a device defined in "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" was not actually plugged in. This update wraps XOpenDevice() in the gdk_error_trap_pop() and gdk_error_trap_push() functions, which resolves this bug. This ensures that the X server can start properly even when devices defined in "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" are not plugged in. (BZ#474588)
All users should upgrade to these updated packages, which resolve these issues. 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.

References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-2697 https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification#low

Package List

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client):
Source:
i386: gdm-2.16.0-56.el5.i386.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.16.0-56.el5.i386.rpm gdm-docs-2.16.0-56.el5.i386.rpm
x86_64: gdm-2.16.0-56.el5.x86_64.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.16.0-56.el5.x86_64.rpm gdm-docs-2.16.0-56.el5.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server):
Source:
i386: gdm-2.16.0-56.el5.i386.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.16.0-56.el5.i386.rpm gdm-docs-2.16.0-56.el5.i386.rpm
ia64: gdm-2.16.0-56.el5.ia64.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.16.0-56.el5.ia64.rpm gdm-docs-2.16.0-56.el5.ia64.rpm
ppc: gdm-2.16.0-56.el5.ppc.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.16.0-56.el5.ppc.rpm gdm-docs-2.16.0-56.el5.ppc.rpm
s390x: gdm-2.16.0-56.el5.s390x.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.16.0-56.el5.s390x.rpm gdm-docs-2.16.0-56.el5.s390x.rpm
x86_64: gdm-2.16.0-56.el5.x86_64.rpm gdm-debuginfo-2.16.0-56.el5.x86_64.rpm gdm-docs-2.16.0-56.el5.x86_64.rpm
These packages are GPG signed by Red Hat for security. Our key and details on how to verify the signature are available from https://access.redhat.com/security/team/key#package


Severity
low
Lowest
Low
Medium
High
Critical

Advisory ID: RHSA-2009:1364-02
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Issue date: 2009-09-02

Topic

Updated gdm packages that fix a security issue and several bugs are nowavailable for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red HatSecurity Response Team.

Relevant Releases Architectures

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) - i386, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) - i386, ia64, ppc, s390x, x86_64

Bugs Fixed

239818 - CVE-2009-2697 gdm not built with tcp_wrappers441971 - [RHEL5] GDM sometimes doesn't come back after ctrl-alt-backspace

458331 - Add supplementary audio group to the gdm user

473262 - Mouse cursor not movable when using tablet instead of mouse

474588 - gdmgreeter crashes if input device (ex wacom) is defined but not plugged

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