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Bug 98826 (IT_25362)

Summary: CAN-2003-0388 pam_wheel uses getlogin in insecure fashion
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 Reporter: Mark J. Cox <mjc>
Component: pamAssignee: Nalin Dahyabhai <nalin>
Status: CLOSED ERRATA QA Contact: Jay Turner <jturner>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: 2.1CC: jrfuller, srevivo, tao
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
URL: http://www.idefense.com/advisory/06.16.03.txt
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2004-08-18 15:10:36 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
Bug Depends On:    
Bug Blocks: 116726    

Description Mark J. Cox 2003-07-09 10:53:52 UTC 
> If the "trust" option is enabled in the pam_wheel configuration file
> and the "use_uid" option is disabled, any local user may spoof the
> username returned by getlogin() and gain access to a super-user account
> without supplying a password.

This security issues is only a risk to Red Hat Enterprise Linux users that are
using pam_wheel (which is not a default in Red Hat Linux) and if they are using
in a non-default way (not the way shown commented out in the configuration
file).  Therefore we consider this of minimal risk and have given it a low
priority.  

[this is the same as bug 98020 but for Red Hat Enterprise Linux]
Comment 1 Mark J. Cox 2003-07-10 12:20:36 UTC 
Note that the work around to this issue is to always ensure you use the use_uid
option if you are using pam_wheel.
Comment 11 John Flanagan 2004-08-18 15:10:36 UTC 
An errata 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-2004-304.html