Multiple X11 terminals: Local privilege escalation — GLSA 200805-03

A vulnerability was found in aterm, Eterm, Mrxvt, multi-aterm, RXVT, rxvt-unicode, and wterm, allowing for local privilege escalation.

Affected packages

x11-terms/aterm on all architectures
Affected versions < 1.0.1-r1
Unaffected versions >= 1.0.1-r1
x11-terms/eterm on all architectures
Affected versions < 0.9.4-r1
Unaffected versions >= 0.9.4-r1
x11-terms/mrxvt on all architectures
Affected versions < 0.5.3-r2
Unaffected versions >= 0.5.3-r2
x11-terms/multi-aterm on all architectures
Affected versions < 0.2.1-r1
Unaffected versions >= 0.2.1-r1
x11-terms/rxvt on all architectures
Affected versions < 2.7.10-r4
Unaffected versions >= 2.7.10-r4
x11-terms/rxvt-unicode on all architectures
Affected versions < 9.02-r1
Unaffected versions >= 9.02-r1
x11-terms/wterm on all architectures
Affected versions < 6.2.9-r3
Unaffected versions >= 6.2.9-r3

Background

Aterm, Eterm, Mrxvt, multi-aterm, RXVT, rxvt-unicode, and wterm are X11 terminal emulators.

Description

Bernhard R. Link discovered that RXVT opens a terminal on :0 if the "-display" option is not specified and the DISPLAY environment variable is not set. Further research by the Gentoo Security Team has shown that aterm, Eterm, Mrxvt, multi-aterm, rxvt-unicode, and wterm are also affected.

Impact

A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability to hijack X11 terminals of other users.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All aterm users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-terms/aterm-1.0.1-r1"

All Eterm users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-terms/eterm-0.9.4-r1"

All Mrxvt users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-terms/mrxvt-0.5.3-r2"

All multi-aterm users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-terms/multi-aterm-0.2.1-r1"

All RXVT users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-terms/rxvt-2.7.10-r4"

All rxvt-unicode users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-terms/rxvt-unicode-9.02-r1"

All wterm users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=x11-terms/wterm-6.2.9-r3"

References

Release date
May 07, 2008

Latest revision
May 10, 2008: 02

Severity
normal

Exploitable
local

Bugzilla entries