A gettext security update has been released for Gentoo Linux

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Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200410-10
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http://security.gentoo.org/
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Severity: Low
Title: gettext: Insecure temporary file handling
Date: October 10, 2004
Bugs: #66355
ID: 200410-10

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Synopsis
========

The gettext utility is vulnerable to symlink attacks, potentially allowing a local user to overwrite or change permissions on arbitrary files with the rights of the user running gettext, which could be the root user.



Background
==========

gettext is a set of utilities for the GNU Translation Project which provides a set of tools and documentation to help produce multi-lingual messages in programs.

Affected packages
=================

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Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected
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1 sys-devel/gettext < 0.12.1-r2 >= 0.12.1-r2

Description
===========

gettext insecurely creates temporary files in world-writeable directories with predictable names.

Impact
======

A local attacker could create symbolic links in the temporary files directory, pointing to a valid file somewhere on the filesystem. When gettext is called, this would result in file access with the rights of the user running the utility, which could be the root user.

Workaround
==========

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution
==========

All gettext users should upgrade to the latest version:

# emerge sync

# emerge -pv ">=sys-devel/gettext-0.12.1-r2"
# emerge ">=sys-devel/gettext-0.12.1.-r2"

References
==========

[ 1 ] BugTraq Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/advisories/7263

Availability
============

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website:

http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200410-10.xml

Concerns?
=========

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at http://bugs.gentoo.org.

License
=======

Copyright 2004 Gentoo Foundation, Inc; referenced text belongs to its owner(s).

The contents of this document are licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike license.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0