Plait Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID:	30928
Class:	Design Error
CVE:	CVE-2008-4085
Remote:	No
Local:	Yes
Published:	Aug 29 2008 12:00AM
Updated:	May 07 2015 05:24PM
Credit:	Dmitry E. Oboukhov
Vulnerable:	Stephen Jungels Plait 1.5.2 Debian Linux 4.0 sparc Debian Linux 4.0 s/390 Debian Linux 4.0 powerpc Debian Linux 4.0 mipsel Debian Linux 4.0 mips Debian Linux 4.0 m68k Debian Linux 4.0 ia-64 Debian Linux 4.0 ia-32 Debian Linux 4.0 hppa Debian Linux 4.0 arm Debian Linux 4.0 amd64 Debian Linux 4.0 alpha Debian Linux 4.0
Not Vulnerable:

Plait Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

Plait creates temporary files in an insecure manner.

An attacker with local access could potentially exploit this issue to perform symbolic-link attacks, overwriting arbitrary files in the context of the affected application.

Successfully mounting a symlink attack may allow the attacker to delete or corrupt sensitive files, which may result in a denial of service. Other attacks may also be possible.

Plait 1.5.2 is vulnerable; other versions may also be affected.

Plait Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

An attacker uses readily available commands to exploit this issue.

Plait Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

Solution:
Patches have been created. Release of a new version of Plait to the Debian linux distribution is pending. Please see the references for more information.

Plait Insecure Temporary File Creation Vulnerability

References:

• Debian Bug report logs - #496381 (Dmitry E. Oboukhov)
  
• Insecure tmp files in Debian packages (Dmitry E. Oboukhov)
  
• Plait Homepage (Stephen Jungels)