The configtest function in the Red Hat dhcpd init script for DHCP 3.0.1 in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 3 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on an unspecified temporary file, related to the "dhcpd -t" command.

The remote VMware ESX / ESXi host is missing a security-related patch.
It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities, including remote code execution vulnerabilities, in the following components :

  - ISC DHCP dhclient
  - Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) subsystem
  - Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
  - Java SE Development Kit (JDK)
  - Java SE Web Start
  - Linux kernel
  - Linux kernel 32-bit and 64-bit emulation
  - Linux kernel Simple Internet Transition INET6
  - Linux kernel tty
  - Linux kernel virtual file system (VFS)
  - Red Hat dhcpd init script for DHCP
  - SBNI WAN driver

From Red Hat Security Advisory 2009:1154 :

Updated dhcp packages that fix two security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.

This update has been rated as having critical security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a protocol that allows individual devices on an IP network to get their own network configuration information, including an IP address, a subnet mask, and a broadcast address.

The Mandriva Linux Engineering Team discovered a stack-based buffer overflow flaw in the ISC DHCP client. If the DHCP client were to receive a malicious DHCP response, it could crash or execute arbitrary code with the permissions of the client (root). (CVE-2009-0692)

An insecure temporary file use flaw was discovered in the DHCP daemon's init script ('/etc/init.d/dhcpd'). A local attacker could use this flaw to overwrite an arbitrary file with the output of the 'dhcpd
-t' command via a symbolic link attack, if a system administrator executed the DHCP init script with the 'configtest', 'restart', or 'reload' option. (CVE-2009-1893)

Users of DHCP should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues.

The Mandriva Linux Engineering Team discovered a stack-based buffer overflow flaw in the ISC DHCP client. If the DHCP client were to receive a malicious DHCP response, it could crash or execute arbitrary code with the permissions of the client (root). (CVE-2009-0692)

An insecure temporary file use flaw was discovered in the DHCP daemon's init script ('/etc/init.d/dhcpd'). A local attacker could use this flaw to overwrite an arbitrary file with the output of the 'dhcpd
-t' command via a symbolic link attack, if a system administrator executed the DHCP init script with the 'configtest', 'restart', or 'reload' option. (CVE-2009-1893)

a. Service Console update for DHCP and third-party library update    for DHCP client.

   DHCP is an Internet-standard protocol by which a computer can be    connected to a local network, ask to be given configuration    information, and receive from a server enough information to    configure itself as a member of that network.

   A stack-based buffer overflow in the script_write_params method in    ISC DHCP dhclient allows remote DHCP servers to execute arbitrary    code via a crafted subnet-mask option.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the name CVE-2009-0692 to this issue.

   An insecure temporary file use flaw was discovered in the DHCP    daemon's init script ('/etc/init.d/dhcpd'). A local attacker could    use this flaw to overwrite an arbitrary file with the output of the    'dhcpd -t' command via a symbolic link attack, if a system    administrator executed the DHCP init script with the 'configtest',    'restart', or 'reload' option.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the name CVE-2009-1893 to this issue.

b. Updated Service Console package kernel

   Service Console package kernel update to version    kernel-2.4.21-58.EL.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the names CVE-2008-4210, CVE-2008-3275, CVE-2008-0598,    CVE-2008-2136, CVE-2008-2812, CVE-2007-6063, CVE-2008-3525 to the    security issues fixed in kernel-2.4.21-58.EL

c. JRE Security Update

   JRE update to version 1.5.0_18, which addresses multiple security    issues that existed in earlier releases of JRE.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has    assigned the following names to the security issues fixed in    JRE 1.5.0_17: CVE-2008-2086, CVE-2008-5347, CVE-2008-5348,    CVE-2008-5349, CVE-2008-5350, CVE-2008-5351, CVE-2008-5352,    CVE-2008-5353, CVE-2008-5354, CVE-2008-5356, CVE-2008-5357,    CVE-2008-5358, CVE-2008-5359, CVE-2008-5360, CVE-2008-5339,    CVE-2008-5342, CVE-2008-5344, CVE-2008-5345, CVE-2008-5346,    CVE-2008-5340, CVE-2008-5341, CVE-2008-5343, and CVE-2008-5355.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has    assigned the following names to the security issues fixed in    JRE 1.5.0_18: CVE-2009-1093, CVE-2009-1094, CVE-2009-1095,    CVE-2009-1096, CVE-2009-1097, CVE-2009-1098, CVE-2009-1099,    CVE-2009-1100, CVE-2009-1101, CVE-2009-1102, CVE-2009-1103,    CVE-2009-1104, CVE-2009-1105, CVE-2009-1106, and CVE-2009-1107.

Updated dhcp packages that fix two security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.

This update has been rated as having critical security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a protocol that allows individual devices on an IP network to get their own network configuration information, including an IP address, a subnet mask, and a broadcast address.

The Mandriva Linux Engineering Team discovered a stack-based buffer overflow flaw in the ISC DHCP client. If the DHCP client were to receive a malicious DHCP response, it could crash or execute arbitrary code with the permissions of the client (root). (CVE-2009-0692)

An insecure temporary file use flaw was discovered in the DHCP daemon's init script ('/etc/init.d/dhcpd'). A local attacker could use this flaw to overwrite an arbitrary file with the output of the 'dhcpd
-t' command via a symbolic link attack, if a system administrator executed the DHCP init script with the 'configtest', 'restart', or 'reload' option. (CVE-2009-1893)

Users of DHCP should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
89116	VMware ESX / ESXi Multiple Vulnerabilities (VMSA-2009-0014) (remote check)	Nessus	Misc.	critical
67891	Oracle Linux 3 : dhcp (ELSA-2009-1154)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	critical
60615	Scientific Linux Security Update : dhcp on SL3.x, SL4.x i386/x86_64	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	critical
42179	VMSA-2009-0014 : VMware ESX patches for DHCP, Service Console kernel, and JRE resolve multiple security issues	Nessus	VMware ESX Local Security Checks	high
39801	CentOS 3 : dhcp (CESA-2009:1154)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	critical
39799	RHEL 3 : dhcp (RHSA-2009:1154)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	critical

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2009-1893

medium

Tenable Plugins

critical

critical

critical

high

critical

critical