GLSA 200710-15: KDM: Local privilege escalation

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	high
Title:	KDM: Local privilege escalation
Date:	10/14/2007
Bugs:	#192373
ID:	200710-15

Synopsis

KDM allows logins without password under certain circumstances allowing a local user to gain elevated privileges.

Background

KDM is the Display Manager for the graphical desktop environment KDE. It is part of the kdebase package.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
kde-base/kdm	< 3.5.7-r2	>= 3.5.7-r2	All supported architectures
kde-base/kdebase	< 3.5.7-r4	>= 3.5.7-r4	All supported architectures

Description

Kees Huijgen discovered an error when checking the credentials which can lead to a login without specifying a password. This only occurs when auto login is configured for at least one user and a password is required to shut down the machine.

Impact

A local attacker could gain root privileges and execute arbitrary commands by logging in as root without specifying root's password.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All KDM users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=kde-base/kdm-3.5.7-r2"

All kdebase users should upgrade to the latest version:


    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=kde-base/kdebase-3.5.7-r4"

References

CVE-2007-4569

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200710-15.xml

Concerns?

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at https://bugs.gentoo.org.