GLSA 200408-15: Tomcat: Insecure installation

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	Tomcat: Insecure installation
Date:	08/15/2004
Bugs:	#59232
ID:	200408-15

Synopsis

Improper file ownership may allow a member of the tomcat group to execute scripts as root.

Background

Tomcat is the Apache Jakarta Project's official implementation of Java Servlets and Java Server Pages.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
www-servers/tomcat	< 5.0.27-r3	>= 5.0.27-r3	All supported architectures

Description

The Gentoo ebuild for Tomcat sets the ownership of the Tomcat init scripts as tomcat:tomcat, but those scripts are executed with root privileges when the system is started. This may allow a member of the tomcat group to run arbitrary code with root privileges when the Tomcat init scripts are run.

Impact

This could lead to a local privilege escalation or root compromise by authenticated users.

Workaround

Users may change the ownership of /etc/init.d/tomcat* and /etc/conf.d/tomcat* to be root:root:

    # chown -R root:root /etc/init.d/tomcat*
    # chown -R root:root /etc/conf.d/tomcat*

Resolution

All Tomcat users can upgrade to the latest stable version, or simply apply the workaround:

    # emerge sync
    # emerge -pv ">=www-servers/tomcat-5.0.27-r3"
    # emerge ">=www-servers/tomcat-5.0.27-r3"

References

CVE-2004-1452

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200408-15.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 https://bugs.gentoo.org.