The Debian pg_ctlcluster, pg_createcluster, and pg_upgradecluster scripts, as distributed in the Debian postgresql-common package before 181+deb9u1 for PostgreSQL (and other packages related to Debian and Ubuntu), handled symbolic links insecurely, which could result in local denial of service by overwriting arbitrary files.

There are packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability referenced in the following CVE:

  - The Debian pg_ctlcluster, pg_createcluster, and pg_upgradecluster scripts, as distributed in the Debian
    postgresql-common package before 181+deb9u1 for PostgreSQL (and other packages related to Debian and
    Ubuntu), handled symbolic links insecurely, which could result in local denial of service by overwriting
    arbitrary files. (CVE-2017-8806)

The remote Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / 16.04 LTS host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-3476-1 advisory.

    Dawid Golunski discovered that the postgresql-common pg_ctlcluster script incorrectly handled symlinks. A     local attacker could possibly use this issue to escalate privileges. This issue only affected Ubuntu 14.04     LTS and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. (CVE-2016-1255)

    It was discovered that the postgresql-common helper scripts incorrectly handled symlinks. A local attacker     could possibly use this issue to escalate privileges. (CVE-2017-8806)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

It was discovered that the pg_ctlcluster, pg_createcluster and pg_upgradecluster commands handled symbolic links insecurely which could result in local denial of service by overwriting arbitrary files.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
463695	Echo: postgresql-common: security update to 188	Tenable Cloud Security	Echo Local Security Checks	Local	medium
463695	Echo: postgresql-common: security update to 188	Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security	Echo Local Security Checks	Local	medium
104496	Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / 16.04 LTS : postgresql-common vulnerabilities (USN-3476-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	Local	high
104485	Debian DSA-4029-1 : postgresql-common - security update	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	Local	medium

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2017-8806

medium

Tenable Plugins

medium

medium

high

medium