=========================================================================Ubuntu Security Notice USN-1223-1
September 30, 2011

puppet vulnerabilities
=========================================================================
A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:

- Ubuntu 11.04
- Ubuntu 10.10
- Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

Summary:

Puppet could be made to overwrite files and run programs with administrator
privileges.

Software Description:
- puppet: Centralized configuration management

Details:

It was discovered that Puppet unsafely opened files when the k5login type
is used to manage files. A local attacker could exploit this to overwrite
arbitrary files which could be used to escalate privileges. (CVE-2011-3869)

Ricky Zhou discovered that Puppet did not drop privileges when creating
SSH authorized_keys files. A local attacker could exploit this to overwrite
arbitrary files as root. (CVE-2011-3870)

It was discovered that Puppet used a predictable filename when using the
--edit resource. A local attacker could exploit this to edit arbitrary
files or run arbitrary code as the user invoking the program, typically
root. (CVE-2011-3871)

Update instructions:

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following
package versions:

Ubuntu 11.04:
  puppet-common                   2.6.4-2ubuntu2.3

Ubuntu 10.10:
  puppet-common                   2.6.1-0ubuntu2.2

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS:
  puppet-common                   0.25.4-2ubuntu6.3

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

References:
  https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-1223-1
  CVE-2011-3869, CVE-2011-3870, CVE-2011-3871

Package Information:
  https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/puppet/2.6.4-2ubuntu2.3
  https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/puppet/2.6.1-0ubuntu2.2
  https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/puppet/0.25.4-2ubuntu6.3