Vulnerabilities
Misconfiguration
Compliance
CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2011-0727

Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')

Published: Mar 31, 2011 | Modified: Apr 11, 2025
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
6.9 IMPORTANT
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu
HIGH
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Additional information
NVDhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-0727
CWEhttps://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/59.html

GNOME Display Manager (gdm) 2.x before 2.32.1 allows local users to change the ownership of arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a (1) dmrc or (2) face icon file under /var/cache/gdm/.

Weakness

The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

Affected Software

NameVendorStart VersionEnd Version
GdmGnome2.0 (including)2.0 (including)
GdmGnome2.2 (including)2.2 (including)
GdmGnome2.3 (including)2.3 (including)
GdmGnome2.4 (including)2.4 (including)
GdmGnome2.5 (including)2.5 (including)
GdmGnome2.6 (including)2.6 (including)
GdmGnome2.8 (including)2.8 (including)
GdmGnome2.13 (including)2.13 (including)
GdmGnome2.14 (including)2.14 (including)
GdmGnome2.15 (including)2.15 (including)
GdmGnome2.16 (including)2.16 (including)
GdmGnome2.17 (including)2.17 (including)
GdmGnome2.18 (including)2.18 (including)
GdmGnome2.19 (including)2.19 (including)
GdmGnome2.20 (including)2.20 (including)
GdmGnome2.21 (including)2.21 (including)
GdmGnome2.22 (including)2.22 (including)
GdmGnome2.23 (including)2.23 (including)
GdmGnome2.24 (including)2.24 (including)
GdmGnome2.25 (including)2.25 (including)
GdmGnome2.26 (including)2.26 (including)
GdmGnome2.27 (including)2.27 (including)
GdmGnome2.28 (including)2.28 (including)
GdmGnome2.29 (including)2.29 (including)
GdmGnome2.30 (including)2.30 (including)
GdmGnome2.31 (including)2.31 (including)
GdmGnome2.32 (including)2.32 (including)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6RedHatgdm-1:2.30.4-21.el6_0.1*
GdmUbuntudapper*
GdmUbuntudevel*
GdmUbuntukarmic*
GdmUbuntulucid*
GdmUbuntumaverick*
GdmUbuntuupstream*

Potential Mitigations

  • Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
  • Denying access to a file can prevent an attacker from replacing that file with a link to a sensitive file. Ensure good compartmentalization in the system to provide protected areas that can be trusted.

References

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