Red Hat Linux Advisory: cvs

Red Hat Security Advisory

1. Topic:

Updated cvs packages closing a vulnerability that could allow
cvs to attempt to create files and directories in the root file
system are now available.

2. Relevant releases/architectures:

Red Hat Linux 9 – i386

3. Problem description:

CVS is a version control system frequently used to manage source
code repositories.

A flaw was found in versions of CVS prior to 1.11.10 where a
malformed module request could cause the CVS server to attempt to
create files or directories at the root level of the file system.
However, normal file system permissions would prevent the creation
of these misplaced directories. The Common Vulnerabilities and
Exposures project (cve.mitre.org/) has assigned the name
CAN-2003-0977 to this issue.

Users of CVS are advised to upgrade to these erratum packages,
which contain a patch correcting this issue.

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. RPMs required:

Red Hat Linux 9:

SRPMS:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/9/en/os/SRPMS/cvs-1.11.2-13.src.rpm

i386:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/9/en/os/i386/cvs-1.11.2-13.i386.rpm

6. Verification:

MD5 sum Package Name

d6a3c1f6e8403e5d069ab124b3b8ab86
9/en/os/SRPMS/cvs-1.11.2-13.src.rpm
e6919ce0f562781a3926107d932becee
9/en/os/i386/cvs-1.11.2-13.i386.rpm

These packages are GPG signed by Red Hat for security. Our key
is available from https://www.redhat.com/security/keys.html

You can verify each package with the following command:

rpm –checksig -v <filename>

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

md5sum <filename>

7. References:

http://ccvs.cvshome.org/servlets/NewsItemView?newsID=84

http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/vulnwatch/2002-q2/0081.html

http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2003-0977

8. Contact:

The Red Hat security contact is <secalert@redhat.com>. More
contact details at https://www.redhat.com/solutions/security/news/contact.html

Copyright 2003 Red Hat, Inc.