GLSA 200412-10: Vim, gVim: Vulnerable options in modelines

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	Vim, gVim: Vulnerable options in modelines
Date:	12/15/2004
Bugs:	#73715
ID:	200412-10

Synopsis

Several vulnerabilities related to the use of options in modelines have been found and fixed in Vim. They could potentially result in a local user escalating privileges.

Background

Vim is an efficient, highly configurable improved version of the classic 'vi' text editor. gVim is the GUI version of Vim.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
app-editors/vim	< 6.3-r2	>= 6.3-r2	All supported architectures
app-editors/gvim	< 6.3-r2	>= 6.3-r2	All supported architectures

Description

Gentoo's Vim maintainer, Ciaran McCreesh, found several vulnerabilities related to the use of options in Vim modelines. Options like 'termcap', 'printdevice', 'titleold', 'filetype', 'syntax', 'backupext', 'keymap', 'patchmode' or 'langmenu' could be abused.

Impact

A local attacker could write a malicious file in a world readable location which, when opened in a modeline-enabled Vim, could trigger arbitrary commands with the rights of the user opening the file, resulting in privilege escalation. Please note that modelines are disabled by default in the /etc/vimrc file provided in Gentoo.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Vim users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-editors/vim-6.3-r2"

All gVim users should also upgrade to the latest version:


    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-editors/gvim-6.3-r2"

References

CAN-2004-1138

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200412-10.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.