An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditors kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.
The product exposes a resource to the wrong control sphere, providing unintended actors with inappropriate access to the resource.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ktexteditor | Kde | 5.34.0 (including) | 5.45.0 (including) |
| Ktexteditor | Ubuntu | artful | * |
| Ktexteditor | Ubuntu | bionic | * |
| Ktexteditor | Ubuntu | cosmic | * |
| Ktexteditor | Ubuntu | disco | * |
| Ktexteditor | Ubuntu | esm-apps/bionic | * |
| Ktexteditor | Ubuntu | upstream | * |
Resources such as files and directories may be inadvertently exposed through mechanisms such as insecure permissions, or when a program accidentally operates on the wrong object. For example, a program may intend that private files can only be provided to a specific user. This effectively defines a control sphere that is intended to prevent attackers from accessing these private files. If the file permissions are insecure, then parties other than the user will be able to access those files. A separate control sphere might effectively require that the user can only access the private files, but not any other files on the system. If the program does not ensure that the user is only requesting private files, then the user might be able to access other files on the system. In either case, the end result is that a resource has been exposed to the wrong party.