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Red Hat Advisory: Race Conditions in LogWatch

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                   Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat Security Advisory

Synopsis:          Race conditions in logwatch
Advisory ID:       RHSA-2002:053-12
Issue date:        2002-03-28
Updated on:        2002-04-04
Product:           Red Hat Linux
Keywords:          logwatch tmp race
Cross references:  RHSA-2002:054
Obsoletes:         
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1. Topic:

Updated LogWatch packages are available that fix tmp file race conditions
which can cause a local user to gain root privileges.

2. Relevant releases/architectures:

Red Hat Linux 7.2 - noarch

3. Problem description:

LogWatch is a customizable log analysis system which is used by default in
Red Hat Linux 7.2.  

Versions of LogWatch 2.1.1 and earlier have a vulnerability due to a race
condition during the creation of a temporary directory.  This vulnerability
can allow a local user to gain root privileges.  An additional race
condition was found in versions of LogWatch 2.5 and earlier.

Users should update to the errata packages containing Logwatch 2.6, which
are not vulnerable to these issues.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org/) has
assigned the names CAN-2002-0162 and CAN-2002-0165 to these issues.

4. Solution:

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

To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:

rpm -Fvh [filenames]

where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade.  Only those
RPMs which are currently installed will be updated.  Those RPMs which are
not installed but included in the list will not be updated.  Note that you
can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory only contains
the
desired RPMs.

Please note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network.  Many
people find this an easier way to apply updates.  To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.

5. Bug IDs fixed (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla for more info):

62055 - A /tmp race condition leads to root
46371 - Handle accepted packets, not just reject and deny
56191 - logwatch is too noisy
58578 - Problem with RPM dependance
61202 - Logwatch logs appear to have emerged themselves with other logfiles. They are semi-unreadable
61829 - logwatch's sshd filter should scan secure logs
61831 - logwatch modprobe filter should allow dashes in module names
61832 - secure filter should ignore sshd messages

6. RPMs required:

Red Hat Linux 7.2:

SRPMS:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/SRPMS/logwatch-2.6-1.src.rpm

noarch:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/noarch/logwatch-2.6-1.noarch.rpm

7. Verification:

MD5 sum                          Package Name
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
bb75f22ed70447d6a46d5d5b2a7ec7aa 7.2/en/os/SRPMS/logwatch-2.6-1.src.rpm
ac8ea7498a2d6b14bb325a511cf8ba6b 7.2/en/os/noarch/logwatch-2.6-1.noarch.rpm
 

These packages are GPG signed by Red Hat, Inc. for security.  Our key
is available at:
    http://www.redhat.com/about/contact/pgpkey.html

You can verify each package with the following command:
    rpm --checksig  

If you only wish to verify that each package has not been corrupted or
tampered with, examine only the md5sum with the following command:
    rpm --checksig --nogpg 

8. References:

http://list.kaybee.org/archives/logwatch-announce/2002-March/000002.html
http://list.kaybee.org/archives/logwatch-announce/2002-March/000003.html
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2002-0162
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2002-0165


Copyright(c) 2000, 2001, 2002 Red Hat, Inc.

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