CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2008-0884

Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource

Published: Apr 04, 2008 | Modified: Feb 13, 2023
CVSS 3.x
N/A
Source:
NVD
CVSS 2.x
6.9 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

The Replace function in the capp-lspp-config script in the (1) lspp-eal4-config-ibm and (2) capp-lspp-eal4-config-hp packages before 0.65-2 in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 uses lstat instead of stat to determine the /etc/pam.d/system-auth file permissions, leading to a change to world-writable permissions for the /etc/pam.d/system-auth-ac file, which allows local users to gain privileges by modifying this file.

Weakness

The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Enterprise_linux Redhat 5.0 5.0

Potential Mitigations

  • Run the code in a “jail” or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict which files can be accessed in a particular directory or which commands can be executed by the software.
  • OS-level examples include the Unix chroot jail, AppArmor, and SELinux. In general, managed code may provide some protection. For example, java.io.FilePermission in the Java SecurityManager allows the software to specify restrictions on file operations.
  • This may not be a feasible solution, and it only limits the impact to the operating system; the rest of the application may still be subject to compromise.
  • Be careful to avoid CWE-243 and other weaknesses related to jails.

References