Cheetah: Untrusted module search path

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
dev-python/cheetah	< 0.9.17_rc1	>= 0.9.17_rc1	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #92926

Cheetah contains a vulnerability in the module importing code that can allow a local user to gain escalated privileges.

2. Impact Information

Cheetah is a Python powered template engine and code generator.

Brian Bird discovered that Cheetah searches for modules in the world-writable /tmp directory.

A malicious local user could place a module containing arbitrary code in /tmp, which when imported would run with escalated privileges.

3. Resolution Information

There are no known workarounds at this time.

All Cheetah users should upgrade to the latest version:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-python/cheetah-0.9.17_rc1"

4. References

Page updated May 19, 2005

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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