A new security update has been released for Gentoo Linux - KDM: Local privilege escalation. Here the announcement:
Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200710-15
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http://security.gentoo.org/
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Severity: High
Title: KDM: Local privilege escalation
Date: October 14, 2007
Bugs: #192373
ID: 200710-15
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Synopsis
========
KDM allows logins without password under certain circumstances allowing
a local user to gain elevated privileges.
Background
==========
KDM is the Display Manager for the graphical desktop environment KDE.
It is part of the kdebase package.
Affected packages
=================
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 kde-base/kdm < 3.5.7-r2 >= 3.5.7-r2
2 kde-base/kdebase < 3.5.7-r4 >= 3.5.7-r4
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2 affected packages on all of their supported architectures.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Description
===========
Kees Huijgen discovered an error when checking the credentials which
can lead to a login without specifying a password. This only occurs
when auto login is configured for at least one user and a password is
required to shut down the machine.
Impact
======
A local attacker could gain root privileges and execute arbitrary
commands by logging in as root without specifying root's password.
Workaround
==========
There is no known workaround at this time.
Resolution
==========
All KDM users should upgrade to the latest version:
# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=kde-base/kdm-3.5.7-r2"
All kdebase users should upgrade to the latest version:
# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=kde-base/kdebase-3.5.7-r4"
References
==========
[ 1 ] CVE-2007-4569
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2007-4569
Availability
============
This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at
the Gentoo Security Website:
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200710-15.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 2007 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/2.5
