KDE kscd SHELL Environmental Variable Vulnerability

BID:1206

Info

KDE kscd SHELL Environmental Variable Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID: 1206
Class: Environment Error
CVE:
Remote: No
Local: Yes
Published: May 16 2000 12:00AM
Updated: May 16 2000 12:00AM
Credit: This vulnerability was posted to the Bugtraq mailing list on May 16, 2000 by Sebastian <[email protected]>
Vulnerable: KDE KDE 2.0 BETA
KDE KDE 1.2
- SuSE Linux 6.4
KDE KDE 1.1.1
KDE KDE 1.1
Not Vulnerable:

Discussion

KDE kscd SHELL Environmental Variable Vulnerability

Some linux distributions (S.u.S.E. 6.4 reported) ship with kscd (a CD player for the KDE Desktop) sgid disk. kscd uses the contents of the 'SHELL' environment variable to execute a browser. This makes it possible to obtain a sgid 'disk' shell. Using these privileges along with code provided in the exploit, it is possible to change attributes on raw disks. This in turns allows an attacker to create a root shell, thus compromising the intergrity of the machine.

Red Hat, Linux Mandrake, and Turbo Linux do not currently ship with kscd setgid 'disk'.

Exploit / POC

KDE kscd SHELL Environmental Variable Vulnerability

An exploit has been made available.

Solution / Fix

KDE kscd SHELL Environmental Variable Vulnerability

Solution:
Currently the SecurityFocus staff are not aware of any vendor supplied patches for this issue. If you feel we are in error or are aware of more recent information, please mail us at: [email protected].

Removal of the sgid bit on the kscd binary will eliminate this vulnerability.

References

KDE kscd SHELL Environmental Variable Vulnerability

References:
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