GLSA 200601-14: LibAST: Privilege escalation

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	high
Title:	LibAST: Privilege escalation
Date:	01/29/2006
Bugs:	#120106
ID:	200601-14

Synopsis

A buffer overflow in LibAST may result in execution of arbitrary code with escalated privileges.

Background

LibAST is a utility library that was originally intended to accompany Eterm, but may be used by various other applications.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
x11-libs/libast	< 0.7	>= 0.7	All supported architectures

Description

Michael Jennings discovered an exploitable buffer overflow in the configuration engine of LibAST.

Impact

The vulnerability can be exploited to gain escalated privileges if the application using LibAST is setuid/setgid and passes a specifically crafted filename to LibAST's configuration engine.

Workaround

Identify all applications linking against LibAST and verify they are not setuid/setgid.

Resolution

All users should upgrade to the latest version and run revdep-rebuild:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-libs/libast-0.7"
    # revdep-rebuild

References

CVE-2006-0224

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200601-14.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.