Secure testing team - Feb 2011 - Bug#612033: vulnerability: rewrite arbitrary user file

Package: conky
Version: 1.8.0-1ubuntu1
Severity: grave
Tags: security
Justification: user security hole
User: ubuntu-devel at lists.ubuntu.com
Usertags: origin-ubuntu natty

This bug report was also filed in Ubuntu and can be found at
http://launchpad.net/bugs/607309
The description, from segooon, follows:

Binary package hint: conky

Hi, I''ve just discovered that conky is vulnerable to rewriting any user
file:

char *getSkillname(const char *file, int skillid)
....
	if (!file_exists(file)) {
		skilltree = getXmlFromAPI(NULL, NULL, NULL, EVEURL_SKILLTREE);
		writeSkilltree(skilltree, file);
		free(skilltree);
	}

getXmlFromAPI() can be executed for a long time (e.g. bad connection), so
between file_exists() and write_file() attacker can create link to any user file
named "/tmp/.cesf". Attacker can choose the time when to create the
link by watching for network connections.

Thanks.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers natty
  APT policy: (500, ''natty'')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.37-12-generic (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash