am-utils: Insecure temporary file creation — GLSA 200804-09

am-utils creates temporary files insecurely allowing local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack.

Affected packages

net-fs/am-utils on all architectures
Affected versions < 6.1.5
Unaffected versions >= 6.1.5

Background

am-utils is a collection of utilities for use with the Berkeley Automounter.

Description

Tavis Ormandy discovered that, when creating temporary files, the 'expn' utility does not check whether the file already exists.

Impact

A local attacker could exploit the vulnerability via a symlink attack to overwrite arbitrary files.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All am-utils users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-fs/am-utils-6.1.5"

References

Release date
April 10, 2008

Latest revision
April 10, 2008: 01

Severity
normal

Exploitable
local

Bugzilla entries