FFTW Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

BID:14501

Info

FFTW Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID: 14501
Class: Design Error
CVE:
Remote: No
Local: Yes
Published: Aug 08 2005 12:00AM
Updated: Aug 08 2005 12:00AM
Credit: Javier Fernandez-Sanguino Pena is credited with the discovery of this issue.
Vulnerable: FFTW FFTW 3.0.1
Not Vulnerable:

Discussion

FFTW Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

FFTW creates temporary files in an insecure manner. An attacker with local access could potentially exploit this issue to overwrite files in the context of the application. The vulnerability is due to the program creating temporary files with a predictable name in the '/tmp' directory.

A local attacker most likely takes advantage of this vulnerability by creating a malicious symbolic link in a directory where the temporary files will be created. When the program attempts to perform an operation on a temporary file, it will instead perform the operation on the file pointed to by the malicious symbolic link.

Exploitation would most likely result in loss of data or a denial of service if critical files are overwritten in the attack. Other attacks may be possible as well.

This issue is reported in version 3.0.1 of the FFTW library; other versions may also be affected.

Exploit / POC

FFTW Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

An exploit is not required.

Solution / Fix

FFTW Insecure Temporary File Creation 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

FFTW Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

References:

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