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An a2ps security update has been released for Gentoo Linux

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Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200501-02
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http://security.gentoo.org/
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Severity: Normal
Title: a2ps: Insecure temporary files handling
Date: January 04, 2005
Bugs: #75784
ID: 200501-02

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Synopsis
=======

The fixps and psmandup scripts in the a2ps package are vulnerable to symlink attacks, potentially allowing a local user to overwrite arbitrary files.



Background
=========

a2ps is an Any to Postscript filter that can convert to Postscript from many filetypes. fixps is a script that fixes errors in Postscript files. psmandup produces a Postscript file for printing in manual duplex mode.

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

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Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected
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1 app-text/a2ps < 4.13c-r2 >= 4.13c-r2

Description
==========

Javier Fernandez-Sanguino Pena discovered that the a2ps package contains two scripts that create insecure temporary files (fixps and psmandup).

Impact
=====

A local attacker could create symbolic links in the temporary files directory, pointing to a valid file somewhere on the filesystem. When fixps or psmandup is executed, this would result in the file being overwritten with the rights of the user running the utility.

Workaround
=========

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution
=========

All a2ps users should upgrade to the latest version:

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-text/a2ps-4.13c-r2"

References
=========

[ 1 ] Secunia SA13641
http://secunia.com/advisories/13641/
[ 2 ] CAN-2004-1170
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2004-1170

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

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

http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200501-02.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/2.0