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                   Red Hat, Inc. Security Advisory



Synopsis:          Updated modutils fixing local root security bug available

Advisory ID:       RHSA-2000:108-03

Issue date:        2000-11-16

Updated on:        2000-11-17

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.







2000-11-17: New packages available for Red Hat Linux 6.2 to



            fix an error in the previous packages.



2. Relevant releases/architectures:



Red Hat Linux 6.2 - i386, alpha, sparc

Red Hat Linux 7.0 - 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.







2000-11-17: For Red Hat Linux 6.2, if you installed the previous



   (2.3.20-0.6.2) packages, you will need to run:







      mv /etc/modules.conf /etc/conf.modules



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-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.alpha.rpm



sparc:

http://updates.redhat.com/6.2/sparc/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.sparc.rpm



i386:

http://updates.redhat.com/6.2/i386/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.i386.rpm



sources:

http://updates.redhat.com/6.2/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.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

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d256aa304b9030391d20e105055f8337  6.2/SRPMS/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.src.rpm

338e03d0f21295aa86ed1bb18dc014dd  6.2/alpha/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.alpha.rpm

b8cd7baa481d858c726d605e99c5ce0e  6.2/i386/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.i386.rpm

c1e3c6c68f12b250a2cdb994e2f3e127  6.2/sparc/modutils-2.3.20-0.6.2.1.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.