RHSA-2009:1619 - Security Advisory

Topic

An updated dstat package that fixes one security issue is now available for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

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

Description

Dstat is a versatile replacement for the vmstat, iostat, and netstat tools.
Dstat can be used for performance tuning tests, benchmarks, and
troubleshooting.

Robert Buchholz of the Gentoo Security Team reported a flaw in the Python
module search path used in dstat. If a local attacker could trick a
local user into running dstat from a directory containing a Python script
that is named like an importable module, they could execute arbitrary code
with the privileges of the user running dstat. (CVE-2009-3894)

All dstat users should upgrade to this updated package, which contains a
backported patch to correct this issue.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 5.4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 5.4 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 538459 - CVE-2009-3894 dstat insecure module search path

CVEs

• CVE-2009-3894

References

• http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#moderate