Elm 'filter' Arbitrary Mail Disclosure Vulnerability

BID:1802

Info

Elm 'filter' Arbitrary Mail Disclosure Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID: 1802
Class: Race Condition Error
CVE: CVE-1999-0114
Remote: No
Local: Yes
Published: Dec 26 1995 12:00AM
Updated: Jul 11 2009 03:56AM
Credit: This vulnerability was reported to bugtraq by David J Meltzer < [email protected] > on Dec 26 1995.
Vulnerable: Elm Development Group ELM 2.4
- Redhat Linux 5.2 sparc
- Redhat Linux 5.2 i386
- Redhat Linux 5.2 alpha
- Redhat Linux 5.2
+ Slackware Linux 4.0
+ Slackware Linux 3.6
Not Vulnerable:

Discussion

Elm 'filter' Arbitrary Mail Disclosure Vulnerability

Elm is a popular Unix mail client. A vulnerability exists in Elm's 'filter' utility which can grant an attacker access to any user's mail spool. By exploiting a race condition which exists in the creation of temporary files, an unauthorized user can delete an open temporary file and replace it with a symbolic link pointing to any other user's mail spool. The mailmessage function will then follow this link, and copy the contents of the victim's mail file to that of the attacker. The obvious result is that the attacker is able to read the victim's mail messages.

Exploit / POC

Elm 'filter' Arbitrary Mail Disclosure Vulnerability

exploit available

Solution / Fix

Elm 'filter' Arbitrary Mail Disclosure 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].

References

Elm 'filter' Arbitrary Mail Disclosure Vulnerability

References:
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