GLSA 200602-14: noweb: Insecure temporary file creation

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	noweb: Insecure temporary file creation
Date:	02/26/2006
Bugs:	#122705
ID:	200602-14

Synopsis

noweb is vulnerable to symlink attacks, potentially allowing a local user to overwrite arbitrary files.

Background

noweb is a simple, extensible, and language independent literate programming tool.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
app-text/noweb	< 2.9-r5	>= 2.9-r5	All supported architectures

Description

Javier Fernandez-Sanguino has discovered that the lib/toascii.nw and shell/roff.mm scripts insecurely create temporary files with predictable filenames.

Impact

A local attacker could create symbolic links in the temporary file directory, pointing to a valid file somewhere on the filesystem. When an affected script is called, this would result in the file being overwritten with the rights of the user running the script.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All noweb users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-text/noweb-2.9-r5"

References

CVE-2005-3342

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200602-14.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.