Utempter symlink vulnerability — GLSA 200405-05

Utempter contains a vulnerability that may allow local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack.

Affected packages

Package 	sys-apps/utempter on all architectures
Affected versions 	< 0.5.5.4
Unaffected versions 	>= 0.5.5.4

Background

Utempter is an application that allows non-privileged apps to write utmp (login) info, which otherwise needs root access.

Description

Utempter contains a vulnerability that may allow local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack.

Impact

This vulnerability may allow arbitrary files to be overwritten with root privileges.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time. All users are advised to upgrade to the latest available version of utempter.

Resolution

All users of utempter should upgrade to the latest stable version:

 # emerge sync

 # emerge -pv ">=sys-apps/utempter-0.5.5.4"
 # emerge ">=sys-apps/utempter-0.5.5.4"

References

    CAN-2004-0233