Red Hat alert: Updated modutils fixing local root security bug available

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                   Red Hat, Inc. Security Advisory

Synopsis:          Updated modutils fixing local root security bug available
Advisory ID:       RHSA-2000:108-03
Issue date:        2000-11-16
Updated on:        2000-11-17
Product:           Red Hat Linux
Keywords:          modutils root exploit security
Cross references:  N/A
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1. Topic:

A local root exploit in modutils has been fixed.



2000-11-17: New packages available for Red Hat Linux 6.2 to

            fix an error in the previous packages.

2. Relevant releases/architectures:

Red Hat Linux 6.2 - i386, alpha, sparc
Red Hat Linux 7.0 - i386

3. Problem description:

modutils, a package that helps the kernel automatically load kernel modules

(device drivers etc.) when they're needed, could be abused to execute code

as root.







modutils versions between 2.3.0 and 2.3.20 are affected.

4. Solution:

For each RPM for your particular architecture, run:







rpm -Fvh [filename]







where filename is the name of the RPM.



2000-11-17: For Red Hat Linux 6.2, if you installed the previous

   (2.3.20-0.6.2) packages, you will need to run:



      mv /etc/modules.conf /etc/conf.modules

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

20749 - local root exploit via modutils


6. RPMs required:

Red Hat Linux 6.2:

alpha:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/6.2/alpha/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.alpha.rpm

sparc:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/6.2/sparc/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.sparc.rpm

i386:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/6.2/i386/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.i386.rpm

sources:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/6.2/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.src.rpm

Red Hat Linux 7.0:

i386:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.0/i386/modutils-2.3.20-1.i386.rpm

sources:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.0/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.20-1.src.rpm

7. Verification:

MD5 sum                           Package Name
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
d256aa304b9030391d20e105055f8337  6.2/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.src.rpm
338e03d0f21295aa86ed1bb18dc014dd  6.2/alpha/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.alpha.rpm
b8cd7baa481d858c726d605e99c5ce0e  6.2/i386/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.i386.rpm
c1e3c6c68f12b250a2cdb994e2f3e127  6.2/sparc/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.sparc.rpm
1502c3cc848fec4ecdaf5903b9f2cbb4  7.0/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.20-1.src.rpm
166b7512c784ffaa4233e8f71ef712cd  7.0/i386/modutils-2.3.20-1.i386.rpm

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

N/A


Copyright(c) 2000 Red Hat, Inc.