Re: SECURITY: redhat, the saga continues..

From: Chris Adams (cadamsat_private)
Date: Fri Jul 03 1998 - 11:21:03 PDT

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    Once upon a time, twiztah wrote
    > Security problems have been found in dosemu and libtermcap. These security
    > problems allow users on your local system to gain root access, and should
    > be fixed as soon as possible.
    
    Beware the fix to libtermcap.  Sure, it closes the root hole, but it
    also keeps users from running most programs that use libtermcap.
    
    The patch includes
    
      if(setfsuid(getuid()))
           return NULL;
    
    The setfsuid(getuid()) will always succeed (so the test is not
    necessary), but it returns the previous fsuid on success.  That will
    only be 0 when the program is setuid-root or being run by root, so for
    most programs run by normal users, the call to open the termcap file
    fails.
    
    Change the patch to just be
    
      setfsuid(getuid());
    
    and it will work fine.  The same goes for the setfsgid() call.
    --
    Chris Adams - cadamsat_private
    System Administrator - Renaissance Internet Services
    I don't speak for anybody but myself - that's enough trouble.
    



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