FreeBSD Security Officer
2000-Mar-15 09:36 UTC
FreeBSD Security Advisory: FreeBSD-SA-00:09.mtr
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============================================================================FreeBSD-SA-00:09
Security Advisory
FreeBSD, Inc.
Topic: mtr port contains a local root exploit.
Category: ports
Module: mtr
Announced: 2000-03-15
Affects: Ports collection before the correction date.
Corrected: 2000-03-07 (included in FreeBSD 4.0-RELEASE)
FreeBSD only: NO
I. Background
mtr ("Multi Traceroute") combines the functionality of the
"traceroute" and
"ping" programs into a single network diagnostic tool.
II. Problem Description
The mtr program (versions 0.41 and below) fails to correctly drop setuid
root privileges during operation, allowing a local root compromise.
The mtr port is not installed by default, nor is it "part of FreeBSD"
as
such: it is part of the FreeBSD ports collection, which contains over 3100
third-party applications in a ready-to-install format. The FreeBSD
4.0-RELEASE ports collection is not vulnerable to this problem.
FreeBSD makes no claim about the security of these third-party
applications, although an effort is underway to provide a security audit of
the most security-critical ports.
III. Impact
A local user can exploit the security hole to obtain root privileges.
If you have not chosen to install the mtr port/package, then your system is
not vulnerable.
IV. Workaround
1) Remove the mtr port if you have installed it.
2) Disable the setuid bit - run the following command as root:
chmod u-s /usr/local/sbin/mtr
This will mean non-root users cannot make use of the program, since it
requires root privileges to properly run.
V. Solution
1) Upgrade your entire ports collection and rebuild the mtr port.
2) Reinstall a new package obtained from:
ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-3-stable/net/mtr-0.42.tgz
ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-4-current/net/mtr-0.42.tgz
ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-4-current/net/mtr-0.42.tgz
Note: it may be several days before the updated packages are available.
3) download a new port skeleton for the mtr port from:
http://www.freebsd.org/ports/
and use it to rebuild the port.
4) Use the portcheckout utility to automate option (3) above. The
portcheckout port is available in /usr/ports/devel/portcheckout or the
package can be obtained from:
ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/packages/devel/portcheckout-1.0.tgz
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