A glibc security update for Gentoo Linux is now available

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Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200410-19
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http://security.gentoo.org/
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Severity: Normal
Title: glibc: Insecure tempfile handling in catchsegv script
Date: October 21, 2004
Bugs: #66358
ID: 200410-19

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Synopsis
========

The catchsegv script in the glibc package is vulnerable to symlink attacks, potentially allowing a local user to overwrite arbitrary files with the rights of the user running the script.



Background
==========

glibc is a package that contains the GNU C library.

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

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 sys-libs/glibc = 2.2.5-r9
*>= 2.3.2-r12
*>= 2.3.3.20040420-r2
*>= 2.3.4.20040619-r2
>= 2.3.4.20040808-r1

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

The catchsegv script 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 catchsegv script is called, this would result in the file being overwritten 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 glibc users should upgrade to the latest version:

# emerge sync

# emerge -pv sys-libs/glibc
# emerge sys-libs/glibc

References
==========

[ 1 ] CAN-2004-0968
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2004-0968

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

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

http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200410-19.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