RHSA-2014:0789 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated python27-mod_wsgi and python33-mod_wsgi packages that fix one
security issue are now available for Red Hat Software Collections 1.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having
Important 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

The mod_wsgi adapter is an Apache module that provides a WSGI-compliant
interface for hosting Python-based web applications within Apache.

It was found that mod_wsgi did not properly drop privileges if the call to
setuid() failed. If mod_wsgi was set up to allow unprivileged users to run
WSGI applications, a local user able to run a WSGI application could
possibly use this flaw to escalate their privileges on the system.
(CVE-2014-0240)

Note: mod_wsgi is not intended to provide privilege separation for WSGI
applications. Systems relying on mod_wsgi to limit or sandbox the
privileges of mod_wsgi applications should migrate to a different solution
with proper privilege separation.

Red Hat would like to thank Graham Dumpleton for reporting this issue.
Upstream acknowledges Róbert Kisteleki as the original reporter of this
issue.

All python27-mod_wsgi and python33-mod_wsgi users are advised to upgrade to
these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to correct this
issue.

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/site/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Server) 1 for RHEL 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Server) 1 for RHEL 6.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Server) 1 for RHEL 6.5 x86_64
• Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Server) 1 for RHEL 6.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Server) 1 for RHEL 6.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Server) 1 for RHEL 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Workstation) 1 for RHEL 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Workstation) 1 for RHEL 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Server) from RHUI 1 for RHEL 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Server) from RHUI 1 for RHEL 6 x86_64

Fixes

• BZ - 1101863 - CVE-2014-0240 mod_wsgi: possible privilege escalation in setuid() failure scenarios

CVEs

• CVE-2014-0240

References

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