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Description of problem:
ncurses uses the TERMINFO and HOME environment variables to search for terminfo entries. If there is a bug in parsing or handling (e.g. CVE-2023-29491), it can be exploited for setuid applications.

ncurses has configure option --disable-root-environ to not use there variables when running as root.

Consider building ncurses with this option to avoid this class of security issues.

How reproducible:
always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. TERMINFO="/tmp/terminfo" strace bash -i -c true |& grep terminfo

Actual results:
stat("/tmp/terminfo", 0x55b8e99c2900)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
stat("/root/.terminfo", 0x55b8e99c2900) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
stat("/etc/terminfo", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=6, ...}) = 0
stat("/usr/share/terminfo", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=195, ...}) = 0
access("/etc/terminfo/s/screen", R_OK)  = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("/usr/share/terminfo/s/screen", R_OK) = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/terminfo/s/screen", O_RDONLY) = 3


Expected results:
No access to /tmp/terminfo and /root/.terminfo is observed

Additional info:

The solution was changed to ignore the TERMINFO and HOME variables only for setuid, setgid, or capability binaries. The root user will still be able to use its own private terminfo.

Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory (Moderate: ncurses security and bug fix update), and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6698