A PHP update has been released for Slackware Linux:

New PHP packages are available for Slackware 8.1, 9.0, 9.1, and -current to fix a security issue. These fix a problem in previous Slackware php packages where linking PHP against a static library in an insecure path (under /tmp) could allow a local attacker to place shared libraries at this location causing PHP to crash, or to execute arbitrary code as the PHP user (which is by default, "nobody").

Thanks to Bryce Nichols for researching and reporting this issue.



Here are the details from the Slackware 9.1 ChangeLog:
+--------------------------+
Wed Jun 2 11:28:17 PDT 2004
patches/packages/php-4.3.6-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to php-4.3.6. This is
compiled with c-client.a in /usr/local/lib/c-client/ to fix a problem in
previous php packages where linking against the library in a path under
/tmp caused an ELF rpath to this location to be built into the PHP binaries.
A local attacker could (by placing shared libraries in this location) either
crash PHP or cause arbitrary code to be executed as the PHP user (typically
"nobody"). Thanks to Bryce Nichols for discovering this issue and bringing
it to my attention.
(* Security fix *)
+--------------------------+


Where to find the new packages:
+-----------------------------+

Updated package for Slackware 8.1:
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-8.1/patches/packages/php-4.3.6-i386-1.tgz

Updated package for Slackware 9.0:
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-9.0/patches/packages/php-4.3.6-i386-1.tgz

Updated package for Slackware 9.1:
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-9.1/patches/packages/php-4.3.6-i486-1.tgz

Updated package for Slackware -current:
ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-current/slackware/php-4.3.6-i486-4.tgz


MD5 signatures:
+-------------+

Slackware 8.1 package:
cee32e839211a37b0081615b4112b87f php-4.3.6-i386-1.tgz

Slackware 9.0 package:
eaa0c69981f0aa8cc6b2d4ef0269481c php-4.3.6-i386-1.tgz

Slackware 9.1 package:
007c48e42d292819b6cdc66e2e8334e0 php-4.3.6-i486-1.tgz

Slackware -current package:
07bcba5e37538f16941141c43006cec1 php-4.3.6-i486-4.tgz


Installation instructions:
+------------------------+

First, stop apache:

# apachectl stop

Next, upgrade the PHP package as root:

# upgradepkg php-4.3.6-i486-1.tgz

Finally, restart apache:

# apachectl start

Or, if you're running a secure server with mod_ssl:

# apachectl startssl


+-----+

Slackware Linux Security Team
http://slackware.com/gpg-key
security@slackware.com