GLSA 200901-14: Scilab: Insecure temporary file usage

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	Scilab: Insecure temporary file usage
Date:	01/21/2009
Bugs:	#245922
ID:	200901-14

Synopsis

An insecure temporary file usage has been reported in Scilab, allowing for symlink attacks.

Background

Scilab is a scientific software package for numerical computations.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
sci-mathematics/scilab	< 4.1.2-r1	>= 4.1.2-r1	All supported architectures

Description

Dmitry E. Oboukhov reported an insecure temporary file usage within the scilink, scidoc and scidem scripts.

Impact

A local attacker could perform symlink attacks to overwrite arbitrary files with the privileges of the user running the application.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Scilab users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=sci-mathematics/scilab-4.1.2-r1"

References

CVE-2008-4983

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200901-14.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.