Insecure temporary file usage was found in the cvsbug program. It is possible that a malicious user could leverage this issue to execute arbitrary instructions as the user running cvsbug. Here is the suggested patch Index: cvs-1.12.12/src/cvsbug.in =================================================================== --- cvs-1.12.12.orig/src/cvsbug.in +++ cvs-1.12.12/src/cvsbug.in @@ -109,14 +109,14 @@ elif [ -f /bin/domainname ]; then /usr/bin/ypcat passwd 2>/dev/null | cat - /etc/passwd | grep "^$LOGNAME:" | cut -f5 -d':' | sed -e 's/,.*//' > $TEMP ORIGINATOR="`cat $TEMP`" - rm -f $TEMP + > $TEMP fi fi if [ "$ORIGINATOR" = "" ]; then grep "^$LOGNAME:" /etc/passwd | cut -f5 -d':' | sed -e 's/,.*//' > $TEMP ORIGINATOR="`cat $TEMP`" - rm -f $TEMP + > $TEMP fi if [ -n "$ORGANIZATION" ]; then Additionally, OWL has a number of additional temporary file fixes, most of which are not security related: http://cvsweb.openwall.com/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/Owl/packages/cvs/
This issue should affect RHEL2.1 and RHEL3 as well.
I'm not sure, if this patch solves any problem (what is different if you change "rm -f" to ">" when it comes to security?) and are you sure that is this a security issue? The only attack that I can imagine is setting the $TMPDIR variable to any malicious value, but this can do the user himself or root only, so I don't see a problem here... Or is there any other problem?
It could be. It will really depend on the usage (I honestly don't know, I've not fully investigated this). By using rm -f, you are removing the file, which could allow a malicious user (unlikely, but possible) to create a new file before you do. Depending how the contents of the file are then used, it could let an attacker run arbitrary commands. ">" just overwrites the file, keeping permissions so is safer.
okay. Is this issue planned for async errata?
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem described in this bug report. This report is therefore being closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information on the solution and/or where to find the updated files, please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report if the solution does not work for you. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2005-756.html