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Gentoo Linux Security Advisory                           GLSA 200501-43
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                                            http://security.gentoo.org/
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  Severity: Normal
     Title: f2c: Insecure temporary file creation
      Date: January 30, 2005
      Bugs: #79725
        ID: 200501-43

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Synopsis
========

f2c is vulnerable to symlink attacks, potentially allowing a local user
to overwrite arbitrary files.

Background
==========

f2c is a Fortran to C translator. Portage uses this package in some
ebuilds to build Fortran sources.

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

    -------------------------------------------------------------------
     Package       /   Vulnerable   /                       Unaffected
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
  1  dev-lang/f2c      <= 20030320                      >= 20030320-r1

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

Javier Fernandez-Sanguino Pena from the Debian Security Audit Team
discovered that f2c creates temporary files in world-writeable
directories with predictable names.

Impact
======

A local attacker could create symbolic links in the temporary files
directory, pointing to a valid file somewhere on the filesystem. When
f2c is executed, this would result in the file being overwritten with
the rights of the user running the software, which could be the root
user.

Workaround
==========

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution
==========

All f2c users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-lang/f2c-20030320-r1"

References
==========

  [ 1 ] CAN-2005-0017
        http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2005-0017

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

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

  http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200501-43.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 2005 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/2.0