RHSA-2005:103 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated Perl packages that fix several security issues are now available
for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

This update has been rated as having important security impact by the Red
Hat Security Response Team

Description

Perl is a high-level programming language commonly used for system
administration utilities and Web programming.

Kevin Finisterre discovered a stack based buffer overflow flaw in sperl,
the Perl setuid wrapper. A local user could create a sperl executable
script with a carefully created path name, overflowing the buffer and
leading to root privilege escalation. The Common Vulnerabilities and
Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2005-0156 to
this issue.

Kevin Finisterre discovered a flaw in sperl which can cause debugging
information to be logged to arbitrary files. By setting an environment
variable, a local user could cause sperl to create, as root, files with
arbitrary filenames, or append the debugging information to existing files.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has
assigned the name CAN-2005-0155 to this issue.

An unsafe file permission bug was discovered in the rmtree() function in
the File::Path module. The rmtree() function removes files and directories
in an insecure manner, which could allow a local user to read or delete
arbitrary files. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project
(cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2004-0452 to this issue.

Users of Perl are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which
contains backported patches to correct these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied. Use Red Hat
Network to download and update your packages. To launch the Red Hat
Update Agent, use the following command:

up2date

For information on how to install packages manually, refer to the
following Web page for the System Administration or Customization
guide specific to your system:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 146739 - CAN-2005-0155 multiple setuid perl issues (CAN-2005-0156 )
• BZ - 146774 - CAN-2004-0452 File::Path::rmtree() issue

CVEs

• CVE-2004-0452
• CVE-2005-0155
• CVE-2005-0156

References

(none)