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                   Red Hat, Inc. Security Advisory



Synopsis:          Updated modutils fixing local root security bug available

Advisory ID:       RHSA-2000:108-02

Issue date:        2000-11-16

Updated on:        2000-11-16

Product:           Red Hat Linux

Keywords:          modutils root exploit security

Cross references:  N/A

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1. Topic:



A local root exploit in modutils has been fixed.



2. Relevant releases/architectures:



Red Hat Linux 6.2 - i386, alpha, sparc

Red Hat Linux 6.2EE - i386, alpha, sparc

Red Hat Linux 7.0 - i386

Red Hat Linux 7.0J - i386



3. Problem description:



modutils, a package that helps the kernel automatically load kernel modules

(device drivers etc.) when they're needed, could be abused to execute code

as root.







modutils versions between 2.3.0 and 2.3.20 are affected.



4. Solution:



For each RPM for your particular architecture, run:







rpm -Fvh [filename]







where filename is the name of the RPM.



5. Bug IDs fixed (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla for more info):



20749 - local root exploit via modutils





6. RPMs required:



Red Hat Linux 6.2:



alpha:

http://updates.redhat.com/6.2/alpha/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.alpha.rpm



sparc:

http://updates.redhat.com/6.2/sparc/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.sparc.rpm



i386:

http://updates.redhat.com/6.2/i386/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.i386.rpm



sources:

http://updates.redhat.com/6.2/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.src.rpm



Red Hat Linux 7.0:



i386:

http://updates.redhat.com/7.0/i386/modutils-2.3.20-1.i386.rpm



sources:

http://updates.redhat.com/7.0/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.20-1.src.rpm



7. Verification:



MD5 sum                           Package Name

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

0b4bb8f26ac126db756cfbc84543d7cf  6.2/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.src.rpm

7540818796b9ab0961465f67118ffac9  6.2/alpha/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.alpha.rpm

206cb6ccd33a0f16803695e0246abb35  6.2/i386/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.i386.rpm

d8226ab998719f79f3df9d4e9a6bb88a  6.2/sparc/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.sparc.rpm

1502c3cc848fec4ecdaf5903b9f2cbb4  7.0/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.20-1.src.rpm

166b7512c784ffaa4233e8f71ef712cd  7.0/i386/modutils-2.3.20-1.i386.rpm



These packages are GPG signed by Red Hat, Inc. for security.  Our key

is available at:

    http://www.redhat.com/corp/contact.html



You can verify each package with the following command:

    rpm --checksig  



If you only wish to verify that each package has not been corrupted or

tampered with, examine only the md5sum with the following command:

    rpm --checksig --nogpg 



8. References:



N/A





Copyright(c) 2000 Red Hat, Inc.