1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory
| Advisory Reference | GLSA 200502-18 / VMware |
| Release Date | February 14, 2005 |
| Latest Revision | May 25, 2006: 03 |
| Impact | normal |
| Exploitable | local |
| Package | Vulnerable versions | Unaffected versions | Architecture(s) |
| app-emulation/vmware-workstation | < 4.5.2.8848-r5 | >= 4.5.2.8848-r5, revision >= 3.2.1.2242-r4 | All supported architectures |
Related bugreports: #81344
VMware may load shared libraries from an untrusted, world-writable directory, resulting in the execution of arbitrary code.
VMware Workstation is a powerful virtual machine for developers and system administrators.
Tavis Ormandy of the Gentoo Linux Security Audit Team has discovered that VMware Workstation searches for gdk-pixbuf loadable modules in an untrusted, world-writable directory.
A local attacker could create a malicious shared object that would be loaded by VMware, resulting in the execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running VMware.
The system administrator may create the file /tmp/rrdharan to prevent malicious users from creating a directory at that location:
Code Listing 3.1: Workaround |
# touch /tmp/rrdharan |
All VMware Workstation users should upgrade to the latest version:
Code Listing 3.2: Resolution |
# emerge --sync # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-emulation/vmware-workstation-3.2.1.2242-r4" |