GLSA 202310-15: USBView: root privilege escalation via insecure polkit settings

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	high
Title:	USBView: root privilege escalation via insecure polkit settings
Date:	10/26/2023
Bugs:	#831756
ID:	202310-15

Synopsis

A vulnerability has been discovered in usbview where certain users can trigger a privilege escalation.

Background

USBView is a tool to display the topology of devices on the USB bus.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
app-admin/usbview	< 2.2	>= 2.2	All supported architectures

Description

A vulnerability has been discovered in usbview. Please review the CVE identifier referenced below for details.

Impact

USBView allows some local users (e.g., ones logged in via SSH) to execute arbitrary code as root because certain Polkit settings (e.g., allow_any=yes) for pkexec disable the authentication requirement. Code execution can, for example, use the --gtk-module option.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All USBView users should upgrade to the latest version:

          # emerge --sync
          # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-admin/usbview-2.2"

References

CVE-2022-23220

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-202310-15.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.