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Debian DSA-1709-1 : shadow - race condition

high Nessus Plugin ID 35431

Synopsis

The remote Debian host is missing a security-related update.

Description

Paul Szabo discovered that login, the system login tool, did not correctly handle symlinks while setting up tty permissions. If a local attacker were able to gain control of the system utmp file, they could cause login to change the ownership and permissions on arbitrary files, leading to a root privilege escalation.

Solution

Upgrade the shadow package.

For the stable distribution (etch), this problem has been fixed in version 4.0.18.1-7+etch1.

See Also

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=505271

https://www.debian.org/security/2009/dsa-1709

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 35431

File Name: debian_DSA-1709.nasl

Version: 1.11

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 1/21/2009

Updated: 1/4/2021

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.2

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:shadow, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:4.0

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/Debian/release, Host/Debian/dpkg-l

Patch Publication Date: 1/21/2009

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2008-5394

CWE: 59

DSA: 1709