- Issued:
- 2003-04-28
- Updated:
- 2003-04-28
RHSA-2003:134 - Security Advisory
Synopsis
man security update
Type/Severity
Security Advisory: Low
Topic
Updated man packages fix a minor security vulnerability.
Description
The man package includes tools for finding information and documentation
about commands on a system.
Versions of man before 1.51 have a bug where a malformed man file can cause
a program named "unsafe" to be run. To exploit this vulnerability a local
attacker would need to be able to get a victim to run man on a carefully
crafted man file, and for the attacker to be able to create a file called
"unsafe" that will be on the victim's default path.
Users of man can upgrade to these erratum packages which contain a patch to
correct this vulnerability. These erratum packages also contain fixes for
a number of other bugs.
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 Red Hat Network. Many
people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:
up2date
This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.
Affected Products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 ia64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 i386
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 ia64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 i386
Fixes
- BZ - 62606 - apropos (man -k) generating invalid grep arguments
- BZ - 65467 - /etc/man.config should MANPATH_MAP /usr/local/share/man
- BZ - 65511 - makewhatis man page omitted from specfile.
- BZ - 77847 - man in Red Hat 8.0 assumes groff 1.18, but doesn't require it
- BZ - 79289 - man -k attempts to run 'unsafe' script
- BZ - 81964 - man uses wrong config file
- BZ - 82088 - Mark /etc/man.config as %config(noreplace)
- BZ - 82684 - /usr/bin/whatis fails with a grep error
- BZ - 83934 - man command needs Korean man pages support
- BZ - 87862 - Minor vulnerability in man
CVEs
References
(none)
The Red Hat security contact is secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.