PolicyKit: Multiple vulnerabilities — GLSA 201204-06

Multiple vulnerabilities have been found in PolicyKit, the worst of which may allow a local attacker to gain root privileges.

Affected packages

sys-auth/polkit on all architectures
Affected versions < 0.104-r1
Unaffected versions >= 0.104-r1

Background

PolicyKit is a toolkit for controlling privileges for system-wide services.

Description

Multiple vulnerabilities have been found in PolicyKit:

  • Error messages in the pkexec utility disclose the existence of local files (CVE-2010-0750).
  • The pkexec utility initially checks the effective user ID of its parent process for authorization, instead of checking the real user ID (CVE-2011-1485).
  • Members of the "wheel" group are able to execute commands as an administrator without a password (CVE-2011-4945).

Impact

A local attacker could gain elevated privileges or sensitive information.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All PolicyKit users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=sys-auth/polkit-0.104-r1"
 

References

Release date
April 17, 2012

Latest revision
April 17, 2012: 1

Severity
high

Exploitable
local

Bugzilla entries