FreeBSD procfs Access Control Vulnerability

BID:2130

Info

FreeBSD procfs Access Control Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID: 2130
Class: Access Validation Error
CVE:
Remote: No
Local: Yes
Published: Dec 18 2000 12:00AM
Updated: Dec 18 2000 12:00AM
Credit: This vulnerability was discovered by Joost Pol <[email protected]> and Frank van Vliet <[email protected]>, and was announced in the FreeBSD Security Advisory issued to Bugtraq on December 18, 2000.
Vulnerable: FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.2
FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1.1
FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1
FreeBSD FreeBSD 3.5.1
Not Vulnerable:

Discussion

FreeBSD procfs Access Control Vulnerability

procfs is part of the FreeBSD Operating System, maintained by the FreeBSD Project. A problem exists which could allow a user to gain elevated privileges.

The problem occurs in the handling of access control in the /proc/<pid>/mem and /proc/<pid>/ctl files. These files provide access to process address space, making it possible to alter the operations of running processes. Abusing the weakness in /proc/<pid>/mem, one could fork() a process from a running process and use it to execute a setuid program. After the execution of the program, the user forking the process still retains read/write access to the memory space, and could use this for the execution of arbitrary code or commands. Therefore, it is possible for a user with malicious intent to abuse this weakness to gain elevated privileges, and potentially administrative privileges.

Exploit / POC

FreeBSD procfs Access Control Vulnerability

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

Solution / Fix

FreeBSD procfs Access Control Vulnerability

Solution:
It is also recommended by the FreeBSD Security Team that all affected users of the FreeBSD Operating System upgrade to a revision after the fix date, or apply one of the following patches to their source tree and rebuild the system from source:


FreeBSD FreeBSD 3.5.1

FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1

FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1.1

FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.2

References

FreeBSD procfs Access Control Vulnerability

References:
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