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Gentoo Linux Security Advisory                           GLSA 200410-07
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                                             http://security.gentoo.org/
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  Severity: Normal
     Title: ed: Insecure temporary file handling
      Date: October 09, 2004
      Bugs: #66400
        ID: 200410-07

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Synopsis
========

The ed utility is vulnerable to symlink attacks, potentially allowing a
local user to overwrite or change rights on arbitrary files with the
rights of the user running ed, which could be the root user.

Background
==========

ed is a line-oriented text editor, used to create or modify text files,
both interactively and via shell scripts.

Affected packages
=================

    -------------------------------------------------------------------
     Package      /  Vulnerable  /                          Unaffected
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
  1  sys-apps/ed      <= 0.2-r3                              >= 0.2-r4

Description
===========

ed insecurely creates temporary files in world-writeable directories
with predictable names. Given that ed is used in various system shell
scripts, they are by extension affected by the same vulnerability.

Impact
======

A local attacker could create symbolic links in the temporary files
directory, pointing to a valid file somewhere on the filesystem. When
ed is called, this would result in file access with the rights of the
user running the utility, which could be the root user.

Workaround
==========

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution
==========

All ed users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge sync

    # emerge -pv ">=sys-apps/ed-0.2-r4"
    # emerge ">=sys-apps/ed-0.2-r4"

References
==========

  [ 1 ] CVE-2000-1137
         http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2000-1137

Availability
============

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at
the Gentoo Security Website:

   http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200410-07.xml

Concerns?
=========

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the
confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost
importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to
security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at 
http://bugs.gentoo.org.

License
=======

Copyright 2004 Gentoo Foundation, Inc; referenced text
belongs to its owner(s).

The contents of this document are licensed under the
Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike license.
 
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0