GLSA 200411-15: OpenSSL, Groff: Insecure tempfile handling

An OpenSSL security update has been released for Gentoo Linux

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Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200411-15
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http://security.gentoo.org/
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Severity: Normal
Title: OpenSSL, Groff: Insecure tempfile handling
Date: November 08, 2004
Bugs: #68404, #68407
ID: 200411-15

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Synopsis
=======

groffer, included in the Groff package, and the der_chop script, included in the OpenSSL package, are both vulnerable to symlink attacks, potentially allowing a local user to overwrite arbitrary files with the rights of the user running the utility.

Background
=========

OpenSSL is a toolkit implementing the Secure Sockets Layer and Transport Layer Security protocols as well as a general-purpose cryptography library. It includes the der_chop script, which is used to convert DER-encoded certificates to PEM format. Groff (GNU Troff) is a typesetting package which reads plain text mixed with formatting commands and produces formatted output. It includes groffer, a command used to display groff files and man pages on X and tty.

Affected packages
================

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Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected
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1 dev-libs/openssl < 0.9.7d-r2 >= 0.9.7d-r2
2 sys-apps/groff < 1.19.1-r2 >= 1.19.1-r2
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2 affected packages on all of their supported architectures.
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Description
==========

groffer and the der_chop script create temporary files in world-writeable directories with predictable names.

Impact
=====

A local attacker could create symbolic links in the temporary files directory, pointing to a valid file somewhere on the filesystem. When groffer or der_chop is executed, this would result in the file being overwritten with the rights of the user running the utility, which could be the root user.

Workaround
=========

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution
=========

All Groff users should upgrade to the latest version:

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=sys-apps/groff-1.19.1-r2"

All OpenSSL users should upgrade to the latest version:

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-libs/openssl-0.9.7d-r2"

Note: /etc/ssl/misc/der_chop is protected by Portage as a configuration file. Don't forget to use etc-update and overwrite the old version with the new one.

References
=========

[ 1 ] CAN-2004-0969
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2004-0969
[ 2 ] CAN-2004-0975
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2004-0975

Availability
===========

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website:

http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200411-15.xml

Concerns?
========

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at http://bugs.gentoo.org.

License
======

Copyright 2004 Gentoo Foundation, Inc; referenced text belongs to its owner(s).

The contents of this document are licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike license.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0