Red Hat Watch: SECURITY: New lsof packages available

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 12:40:33 -0500 (EST)
Reply-To: redhat-watch-list@redhat.com
To: redhat-watch-list@redhat.com
Subject: SECURITY: New lsof packages available

Red Hat Linux 5.2 is shipping with a vulnerable version of lsof. The lsof
binary is shipped setgid kmem and by exploiting a buffer overflow a user
will be able to get kmem group access. Fortunately the permissions on
/dev/kmem on Red Hat Linux will only grant read only access to kmem group
members, so this exploit can not be used to get root access.

There is an exploit floating around the net for this security problem which
is based on the fact that some distributions grant both read and write
access for the kmem group members to /dev/kmem.

Red Hat would like to thank HERT - Hacker Emergency Response Team - for
bringing this problem to our attention.

Although this security hole can not be used to get root access on Red Hat
Linux, there are privacy concerns that prompt us to release a security
update for the lsof package. All users of Red Hat Linux 5.2 are encouraged
to upgrade to the new lsof packages immediately. As always, these packages
have been signed with the Red Hat PGP key.

Red Hat Linux 5.2:
==================

alpha:
rpm -Uvh ftp://updates.redhat.com/5.2/alpha/lsof-4.40-1.alpha.rpm

i386:
rpm -Uvh ftp://updates.redhat.com/5.2/i386/lsof-4.40-1.i386.rpm

sparc:
rpm -Uvh ftp://updates.redhat.com/5.2/sparc/lsof-4.40-1.sparc.rp

Source rpm:
rpm -Uvh ftp://updates.redhat.com/5.2/SRPMS/lsof-4.40-1.src.rpm

Cristian
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Cristian Gafton   --   gafton@redhat.com   --   Red Hat Software, Inc.
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 UNIX is user friendly. It's just selective about who its friends are.