Updated packages for sharutils which fix a security vulnerability are now available.
The sharutils package contains a set of tools for encoding and decoding packages of files in binary or text format.
2. Relevant releases/architectures:
Red Hat Linux 7.3 - i386 Red Hat Linux 9 - i386 Fedora Core 1 - i386 Fedora Core 2 - i386
3. Problem description:
A bug was found in the way unshar creates temporary files. A local user could use symlinks to overwrite arbitrary files the victim running unshar has write access to. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2005-0990 to this issue.
All users of sharutils should upgrade to these packages, which resolve this issue.
4. Solution:
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied.
To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:
rpm -Fvh [filenames]
where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade. Only those RPMs which are currently installed will be updated. Those RPMs which are not installed but included in the list will not be updated. Note that you can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the desired RPMs.
Please note that this update is also available via yum and apt. Many people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use yum issue:
yum update
or to use apt:
apt-get update; apt-get upgrade
This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate RPMs being upgraded on your system. This assumes that you have yum or apt-get configured for obtaining Fedora Legacy content. Please visit http://www.fedoralegacy.org/docs for directions on how to configure yum and apt-get.