GLSA 200407-01: Esearch: Insecure temp file handling

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	Esearch: Insecure temp file handling
Date:	07/01/2004
Bugs:	#55424
ID:	200407-01

Synopsis

The eupdatedb utility in esearch creates a file in /tmp without first checking for symlinks. This makes it possible for any user to create arbitrary files.

Background

Esearch is a replacement for the Portage command "emerge search". It uses an index to speed up searching of the Portage tree.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
app-portage/esearch	<= 0.6.1	>= 0.6.2	All supported architectures

Description

The eupdatedb utility uses a temporary file (/tmp/esearchdb.py.tmp) to indicate that the eupdatedb process is running. When run, eupdatedb checks to see if this file exists, but it does not check to see if it is a broken symlink. In the event that the file is a broken symlink, the script will create the file pointed to by the symlink, instead of printing an error and exiting.

Impact

An attacker could create a symlink from /tmp/esearchdb.py.tmp to a nonexistent file (such as /etc/nologin), and the file will be created the next time esearchdb is run.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time. All users should upgrade to the latest available version of esearch.

Resolution

All users should upgrade to the latest available version of esearch, as follows:

    # emerge sync
    
    # emerge -pv ">=app-portage/esearch-0.6.2"
    # emerge ">=app-portage/esearch-0.6.2"

References

CVE-2004-0655

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200407-01.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 https://bugs.gentoo.org.