From security@LINUX-MANDRAKE.COM Fri Nov 24 18:49:04 2000 From: Linux Mandrake Security Team To: BUGTRAQ@SECURITYFOCUS.COM Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2000 13:36:06 -0700 Subject: [BUGTRAQ] MDKSA-2000:071-1 - modutils update [The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 ________________________________________________________________________ Linux-Mandrake Security Update Advisory ________________________________________________________________________ Package name: modutils Date: November 23rd, 2000 Original Advisory Date: November 16th, 2000 Advisory ID: MDKSA-2000:071-1 Affected versions: 7.1, 7.2 ________________________________________________________________________ Problem Description: All 2.3.x versions of modutils (since March 12 1999) contain a vulnerability that can lead to a local root compromise. The modprobe program uses popen() to execute the "echo" program argumented with user input. Because popen() relies on /bin/sh to parse the command string and execute "echo", un-escaped shell meta-characters can be included in user input to execute commands. Although modprobe is not installed setuid root, this vulnerability can be exploited to gain root access provided the target system is using kmod. Kmod is a kernel facility that automatically executes the program modprobe when a module is requested via request_module(). One program that can take advantage of this vulnerability is ping. When a device is specified at the command line that doesn't exist, request_module is called with the user-supplied arguments passed to the kernel. The kernel then takes the arguments and executes modprobe with them. Arbitrary commands included in the argument for module name (device name to ping) are then executed when popen() is called as root. A new version of modutils (2.3.20) has been released that fixes this particular vulnerability. modutils still supports meta expansion, including back quoted commands, but only for data read from the configuration file. This assumes that when modutils is run as root out of the kernel, normal users cannot specify their own configuration files. Update: The previous version of modutils (2.3.20) contained an error in the new safe guards that caused them to not properly be enabled when run as root from the kmod process. These new safe guards check the arguments passed to modules. The 2.3.21 modutils package fixes this error and correctly checks the arguments when running from kmod, limiting kernel module arguments to those specified in /etc/conf.modules (Linux-Mandrake 7.1) or /etc/modules.conf (Linux-Mandrake 7.2). ________________________________________________________________________ Please verify these md5 checksums of the updates prior to upgrading to ensure the integrity of the downloaded package. You can do this by running the md5sum program on the downloaded package by using "md5sum package.rpm". Linux-Mandrake 7.1: 75dd47e569d7ab2c92d90f5287c31701 7.1/RPMS/modutils-2.3.21-1.2mdk.i586.rpm 0c722ca0610cb30fc53c3a15052788d6 7.1/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.21-1.2mdk.src.rpm Linux-Mandrake 7.2: bd41dc31c12162fa35a46e72720c917b 7.2/RPMS/modutils-2.3.21-1.1mdk.i586.rpm 0f06619f247ed7616a773fffa30e707a 7.2/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.21-1.1mdk.src.rpm ________________________________________________________________________ To upgrade automatically, use « MandrakeUpdate ». If you want to upgrade manually, download the updated package from one of our FTP server mirrors and uprade with "rpm -Fvh *.rpm". You can download the updates directly from one of the mirror sites listed at: http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/ftp.php3. Updated packages are available in the "updates/[ver]/RPMS/" directory. For example, if you are looking for an updated RPM package for Linux-Mandrake 7.2, look for it in "updates/7.2/RPMS/". Updated source RPMs are available as well, but you generally do not need to download them. Please be aware that sometimes it takes the mirrors a few hours to update, so if you want an immediate upgrade, please use one of the two above-listed mirrors. You can view other security advisories for Linux-Mandrake at: http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/security/ If you want to report vulnerabilities, please contact security@linux-mandrake.com ________________________________________________________________________ Linux-Mandrake has two security-related mailing list services that anyone can subscribe to: security-announce@linux-mandrake.com Linux-Mandrake's security announcements mailing list. Only announcements are sent to this list and it is read-only. security-discuss@linux-mandrake.com Linux-Mandrake's security discussion mailing list. This list is open to anyone to discuss Linux-Mandrake security specifically and Linux security in general. To subscribe to either list, send a message to sympa@linux-mandrake.com with "subscribe [listname]" in the body of the message. To remove yourself from either list, send a message to sympa@linux-mandrake.com with "unsubscribe [listname]" in the body of the message. To get more information on either list, send a message to sympa@linux-mandrake.com with "info [listname]" in the body of the message. Optionally, you can use the web interface to subscribe to or unsubscribe from either list: http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/flists.php3#security ________________________________________________________________________ Type Bits/KeyID Date User ID pub 1024D/22458A98 2000-07-10 Linux Mandrake Security Team - -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.1 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org mQGiBDlp594RBAC2tDozI3ZgQsE7XwxurJCJrX0L5vx7SDByR5GHDdWekGhdiday L4nfUax+SeR9SCoCgTgPW1xB8vtQc8/sinJlMjp9197a2iKM0FOcPlkpa3HcOdt7 WKJqQhlMrHvRcsivzcgqjH44GBBJIT6sygUF8k0lU6YnMHj5MPc/NGWt8wCg9vKo P0l5QVAFSsHtqcU9W8cc7wMEAJzQsAlnvPXDBfBLEH6u7ptWFdp0GvbSuG2wRaPl hynHvRiE01ZvwbJZXsPsKm1z7uVoW+NknKLunWKB5axrNXDHxCYJBzY3jTeFjsqx PFZkIEAQphLTkeXXelAjQ5u9tEshPswEtMvJvUgNiAfbzHfPYmq8D6x5xOw1IySg 2e/LBACxr2UJYCCB2BZ3p508mAB0RpuLGukq+7UWiOizy+kSskIBg2O7sQkVY/Cs iyGEo4XvXqZFMY39RBdfm2GY+WB/5NFiTOYJRKjfprP6K1YbtsmctsX8dG+foKsD LLFs7OuVfaydLQYp1iiN6D+LJDSMPM8/LCWzZsgr9EKJ8NXiyrQ6TGludXggTWFu ZHJha2UgU2VjdXJpdHkgVGVhbSA8c2VjdXJpdHlAbGludXgtbWFuZHJha2UuY29t PohWBBMRAgAWBQI5aefeBAsKBAMDFQMCAxYCAQIXgAAKCRCaqNDQIkWKmK6LAKCy /NInDsaMSI+WHwrquwC5PZrcnQCeI+v3gUDsNfQfiKBvQSANu1hdulq5AQ0EOWnn 7xAEAOQlTVY4TiNo5V/iP0J1xnqjqlqZsU7yEBKo/gZz6/+hx75RURe1ebiJ9F77 9FQbpJ9Epz1KLSXvq974rnVb813zuGdmgFyk+ryA/rTR2RQ8h+EoNkwmATzRxBXV Jb57fFQjxOu4eNjZAtfII/YXb0uyXXrdr5dlJ/3eXrcO4p0XAAMFBACCxo6Z269s +A4v8C6Ui12aarOQcCDlV8cVG9LkyatU3FNTlnasqwo6EkaP572448weJWwN6SCX Vl+xOYLiK0hL/6Jb/O9Agw75yUVdk+RMM2I4fNEi+y4hmfMh2siBv8yEkEvZjTcl 3TpkTfzYky85tu433wmKaLFOv0WjBFSikohGBBgRAgAGBQI5aefvAAoJEJqo0NAi RYqYid0AoJgeWzXrEdIClBOSW5Q6FzqJJyaqAKC0Y9YI3UFlE4zSIGjcFlLJEJGX lA== =WxWn - -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE6HXiLmqjQ0CJFipgRAvQBAJ0YN28SGptVJ2V+hUPcGUp82Gu90wCg5Qqv KbZ5rDKjPbP/RdBspnCgXck= =+ajP -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----