nm-connection-editor in NetworkManager (NM) 0.7.x exports connection objects over D-Bus upon actions in the connection editor GUI, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information by reading D-Bus signals, as demonstrated by using dbus-monitor to discover the password for the WiFi network.

From Red Hat Security Advisory 2010:0108 :

Updated NetworkManager packages that fix two security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

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

NetworkManager is a network link manager that attempts to keep a wired or wireless network connection active at all times.

A missing network certificate verification flaw was found in NetworkManager. If a user created a WPA Enterprise or 802.1x wireless network connection that was verified using a Certificate Authority (CA) certificate, and then later removed that CA certificate file, NetworkManager failed to verify the identity of the network on the following connection attempts. In these situations, a malicious wireless network spoofing the original network could trick a user into disclosing authentication credentials or communicating over an untrusted network. (CVE-2009-4144)

An information disclosure flaw was found in NetworkManager's nm-connection-editor D-Bus interface. If a user edited network connection options using nm-connection-editor, a summary of those changes was broadcasted over the D-Bus message bus, possibly disclosing sensitive information (such as wireless network authentication credentials) to other local users. (CVE-2009-4145)

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

It was discovered that NetworkManager did not ensure that the Certification Authority (CA) certificate file remained present when using WPA Enterprise or 802.1x networks. A remote attacker could use this flaw to spoof the identity of a wireless network and view sensitive information. (CVE-2009-4144)

It was discovered that the connection editor GUI would incorrectly export objects over D-Bus. A local user could read D-Bus signals to view other users' network connection passwords and pre-shared keys.
(CVE-2009-4145).

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

CVE-2009-4145 NetworkManager: information disclosure by nm-connection-editor

CVE-2009-4144 NetworkManager: WPA enterprise network not verified when certificate is removed

A missing network certificate verification flaw was found in NetworkManager. If a user created a WPA Enterprise or 802.1x wireless network connection that was verified using a Certificate Authority (CA) certificate, and then later removed that CA certificate file, NetworkManager failed to verify the identity of the network on the following connection attempts. In these situations, a malicious wireless network spoofing the original network could trick a user into disclosing authentication credentials or communicating over an untrusted network. (CVE-2009-4144)

An information disclosure flaw was found in NetworkManager's nm-connection-editor D-Bus interface. If a user edited network connection options using nm-connection-editor, a summary of those changes was broadcasted over the D-Bus message bus, possibly disclosing sensitive information (such as wireless network authentication credentials) to other local users. (CVE-2009-4145)

This update corrects two security issues, as well as fixes for various mobile broadband devices and Fedora system network configuration handling.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

Updated NetworkManager packages that fix two security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

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

NetworkManager is a network link manager that attempts to keep a wired or wireless network connection active at all times.

A missing network certificate verification flaw was found in NetworkManager. If a user created a WPA Enterprise or 802.1x wireless network connection that was verified using a Certificate Authority (CA) certificate, and then later removed that CA certificate file, NetworkManager failed to verify the identity of the network on the following connection attempts. In these situations, a malicious wireless network spoofing the original network could trick a user into disclosing authentication credentials or communicating over an untrusted network. (CVE-2009-4144)

An information disclosure flaw was found in NetworkManager's nm-connection-editor D-Bus interface. If a user edited network connection options using nm-connection-editor, a summary of those changes was broadcasted over the D-Bus message bus, possibly disclosing sensitive information (such as wireless network authentication credentials) to other local users. (CVE-2009-4145)

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

The following bugs have been fixed :

  - nm-applet connected to WPA2 Enterprise networks even if     the specified CA certificate file didn't exist.
    (CVE-2009-4144)

  - When editing connections in nm-applet the connection     object was exported via DBus disclosing potentially     sensitive information to local users. (CVE-2009-4145)

nm-applet connected to WPA2 Enterprise networks even if the specified CA certificate file didn't exist (CVE-2009-4144).

When editing connections in nm-applet the connection object was exported via DBus disclosing potentially sensitive information to local users (CVE-2009-4145).

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
67996	Oracle Linux 5 : NetworkManager (ELSA-2010-0108)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	medium
65121	Ubuntu 8.10 / 9.04 : network-manager-applet vulnerabilities (USN-883-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	medium
60734	Scientific Linux Security Update : NetworkManager on SL5.x i386/x86_64	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	medium
44883	Fedora 11 : NetworkManager-0.7.2-2.git20091223.fc11 (2009-13642)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	medium
44677	CentOS 5 : NetworkManager (CESA-2010:0108)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	medium
44633	RHEL 5 : NetworkManager (RHSA-2010:0108)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	medium
44375	SuSE 11 Security Update : NetworkManager-gnome (SAT Patch Number 1879)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
44371	openSUSE Security Update : NetworkManager-gnome (NetworkManager-gnome-1877)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
44365	openSUSE Security Update : NetworkManager-gnome (NetworkManager-gnome-1877)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
44359	openSUSE Security Update : NetworkManager-gnome (NetworkManager-gnome-1877)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2009-4145

high

Tenable Plugins

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium