RHSA-2011:1338 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated NetworkManager packages that fix one security issue are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderate
security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score,
which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in
the References section.

Description

NetworkManager is a network link manager that attempts to keep a wired or
wireless network connection active at all times. The ifcfg-rh
NetworkManager plug-in is used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux distributions to
read and write configuration information from the
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-* files.

An input sanitization flaw was found in the way the ifcfg-rh NetworkManager
plug-in escaped network connection names containing special characters. If
PolicyKit was configured to allow local, unprivileged users to create and
save new network connections, they could create a connection with a
specially-crafted name, leading to the escalation of their privileges.
Note: By default, PolicyKit prevents unprivileged users from creating and
saving network connections. (CVE-2011-3364)

Red Hat would like to thank Matt McCutchen for reporting this issue.

Users of NetworkManager should upgrade to these updated packages, which
contain a backported patch to correct this issue. Running instances of
NetworkManager must be restarted ("service NetworkManager restart") for
this update to take effect.

Solution

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

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

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 6.1 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 6.1 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 6.1 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 6.1 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 6.1 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 6.1 i386
• Red Hat Virtual Storage Appliance (from RHUI) 6.1 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 737338 - CVE-2011-3364 NetworkManager: Console user can escalate to root via newlines in ifcfg-rh connection name

CVEs

• CVE-2011-3364

References

• https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#moderate