Ubuntu 11.10: USN-1420-1 Low: NVIDIA Privilege Escalation Risk

ubuntu

April 11, 2012

NVIDIA graphics drivers could be made to run programs as an administrator.

Summary

NVIDIA graphics drivers could be made to run programs as an administrator.

Software Description:

- nvidia-graphics-drivers: NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

- nvidia-graphics-drivers-173: NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

- nvidia-graphics-drivers-173-updates: NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

- nvidia-graphics-drivers-updates: NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

Details:

It was discovered that the NVIDIA graphics drivers could be reconfigured to

gain access to arbitrary system memory. A local attacker could use this

issue to possibly gain root privileges.

Topics Covered

security advisory software update privilege escalation Ubuntu local access administrative access NVIDIA drivers

Update Instructions

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

Ubuntu 11.10:
  nvidia-173                      173.14.30-0ubuntu8.1
  nvidia-173-updates              173.14.30-0ubuntu5.1
  nvidia-current                  280.13-0ubuntu6.1
  nvidia-current-updates          280.13-0ubuntu5.1

Ubuntu 11.04:
  nvidia-173                      173.14.30-0ubuntu1.1
  nvidia-current                  270.41.06-0ubuntu1.1

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS:
  nvidia-173                      173.14.22-0ubuntu11.1
  nvidia-current                  195.36.24-0ubuntu1~10.04.2

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make
all the necessary changes.