RHSA-2004:041 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated slocate packages are now available that fix vulnerabilities
allowing a local user to gain "slocate" group privileges.

Description

Slocate is a security-enhanced version of locate, designed to find files on
a system via a central database.

Patrik Hornik discovered a vulnerability in Slocate versions up to and
including 2.7 where a carefully crafted database could overflow a
heap-based buffer. A local user could exploit this vulnerability to gain
"slocate" group privileges and then read the entire slocate database. The
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned
the name CAN-2003-0848 to this issue.

Users of Slocate should upgrade to these erratum packages, which contain
Slocate version 2.7 with the addition of a patch from Kevin Lindsay that
causes slocate to drop privileges before reading a user-supplied database.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 these packages also fix a buffer overflow
that affected unpatched versions of Slocate prior to 2.7. This
vulnerability could also allow a local user to gain "slocate" group
privileges. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project
(cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0056 to 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 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 3 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 114013 - CAN-2003-0848 slocate buffer overflow
• BZ - 114016 - CAN-2003-0056 buffer overflow in slocate

CVEs

• CVE-2003-0056
• CVE-2003-0848

References

(none)