LibAST: Privilege escalation

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200601-14 / LibAST
Release Date	January 29, 2006
Latest Revision	January 29, 2006: 02
Impact	high
Exploitable	local

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
x11-libs/libast	< 0.7	>= 0.7	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #120106

Synopsis

A buffer overflow in LibAST may result in execution of arbitrary code with escalated privileges.

2. Impact Information

Background

LibAST is a utility library that was originally intended to accompany Eterm, but may be used by various other applications.

Description

Michael Jennings discovered an exploitable buffer overflow in the configuration engine of LibAST.

Impact

The vulnerability can be exploited to gain escalated privileges if the application using LibAST is setuid/setgid and passes a specifically crafted filename to LibAST's configuration engine.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

Identify all applications linking against LibAST and verify they are not setuid/setgid.

Resolution

All users should upgrade to the latest version and run revdep-rebuild:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-libs/libast-0.7"
# revdep-rebuild

4. References

CVE-2006-0224

Updated January 29, 2006

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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