GLSA 200409-18: cdrtools: Local root vulnerability in cdrecord if set SUID root

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	high
Title:	cdrtools: Local root vulnerability in cdrecord if set SUID root
Date:	09/14/2004
Bugs:	#63187
ID:	200409-18

Synopsis

cdrecord, if manually set SUID root, is vulnerable to a local root exploit allowing users to escalate privileges.

Background

The cdrtools package is a set of tools for CD recording, including the popular cdrecord command-line utility.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
app-cdr/cdrtools	<= 2.01_alpha37	>= 2.01_alpha37-r1	All supported architectures

Description

Max Vozeler discovered that the cdrecord utility, when set to SUID root, fails to drop root privileges before executing a user-supplied RSH program. By default, Gentoo does not ship the cdrecord utility as SUID root and therefore is not vulnerable. However, many users (and CD-burning front-ends) set this manually after installation.

Impact

A local attacker could specify a malicious program using the $RSH environment variable and have it executed by the SUID cdrecord, resulting in root privileges escalation.

Workaround

As a workaround, you could remove the SUID rights from your cdrecord utility :

    # chmod a-s /usr/bin/cdrecord

Resolution

All cdrtools users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge sync

    # emerge -pv ">=app-cdr/cdrtools-2.01_alpha37-r1"
    # emerge ">=app-cdr/cdrtools-2.01_alpha37-r1"

References

CAN-2004-0806

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200409-18.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.