RHSA-2003:231 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated semi packages that fix vulnerabilities in semi's temporary file
handling are now available.

Description

semi is a MIME library for GNU Emacs and XEmacs used by the wl mail package.

A vulnerability in semi version 1.14.3 and earlier allows an attacker
to overwrite arbitrary files with potentially arbitrary contents using the
privileges of the user running Emacs and semi. The Common Vulnerabilities
and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0440
to this issue.

Users of semi are advised to upgrade to these packages, which contain
a backported patch correcting this issue.

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.

If up2date fails to connect to Red Hat Network due to SSL Certificate
Errors, you need to install a version of the up2date client with an updated
certificate. The latest version of up2date is available from the Red Hat
FTP site and may also be downloaded directly from the RHN website:

https://rhn.redhat.com/help/latest-up2date.pxt

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 - 98817 - CAN-2003-0440 semi has tmp file vulnerability

CVEs

• CVE-2003-0440

References

(none)