RHSA-2003:270 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated KDE packages that resolve a local security issue with KDM PAM
support and weak session cookie generation are now available.

Description

KDE is a graphical desktop environment for the X Window System.

KDE between versions 2.2.0 and 3.1.3 inclusive contain a bug in the KDE
Display Manager (KDM) when checking the result of a pam_setcred() call.
If an error condition is triggered by the installed PAM modules, KDM might
grant local root access to any user with valid login credentials.

It has been reported that one way to trigger this bug is by having a
certain configuration of the MIT pam_krb5 module that leaves a session
alive and gives root access to a regular user. The Common Vulnerabilities
and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0690
to this issue.

In addition, the session cookie generation algorithm used by KDM was
considered too weak to supply a full 128 bits of entropy. This could make
it possible for non-authorized users, who are able to bypass any host
restrictions, to brute-force the session cookie and gain acess to the
current session. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project
(cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0692 to this issue.

Users of KDE are advised to upgrade to these erratum packages, which
contain security patches correcting these issues.

Red Hat would like to thank the KDE team for notifying us of this issue and
providing the security patches.

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 - 103512 - CAN-2003-0690 kdm local root via PAM

CVEs

• CVE-2003-0692
• CVE-2003-0690

References

(none)