Vixie Cron: Privilege Escalation

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200606-07 / vixie-cron
Release Date	June 09, 2006
Latest Revision	June 09, 2006: 01
Impact	high
Exploitable	local

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
sys-process/vixie-cron	< 4.1-r9	>= 4.1-r9	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #134194

Synopsis

Vixie Cron allows local users to execute programs as root.

2. Impact Information

Background

Vixie Cron is a command scheduler with extended syntax over cron.

Description

Roman Veretelnikov discovered that Vixie Cron fails to properly check whether it can drop privileges accordingly if setuid() in do_command.c fails due to a user exceeding assigned resource limits.

Impact

Local users can execute code with root privileges by deliberately exceeding their assigned resource limits and then starting a command through Vixie Cron. This requires resource limits to be in place on the machine.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Vixie Cron users should upgrade to the latest version:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=sys-process/vixie-cron-4.1-r9"

4. References

CVE-2006-2607

Updated June 09, 2006

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Security Team
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