RHSA-2010:0125 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated systemtap packages that fix a security issue are now available for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

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

Description

SystemTap is an instrumentation system for systems running the Linux
kernel, version 2.6. Developers can write scripts to collect data on the
operation of the system.

A buffer overflow flaw was found in SystemTap's tapset __get_argv()
function. If a privileged user ran a SystemTap script that called this
function, a local, unprivileged user could, while that script is still
running, trigger this flaw and cause memory corruption by running a command
with a large argument list, which may lead to a system crash or,
potentially, arbitrary code execution with root privileges. (CVE-2010-0411)

Note: SystemTap scripts that call __get_argv(), being a privileged
function, can only be executed by the root user or users in the stapdev
group. As well, if such a script was compiled and installed by root, users
in the stapusr group would also be able to execute it.

SystemTap users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain 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 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.8 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.8 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.8 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 Power, big endian 4 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 4.8 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 559719 - CVE-2010-0411 systemtap: Crash with systemtap script using __get_argv()

CVEs

• CVE-2010-0411

References

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