Vulnerabilities > CVE-2006-1174 - Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls vulnerability in Debian Shadow
Attack vector
LOCAL Attack complexity
HIGH Privileges required
NONE Confidentiality impact
PARTIAL Integrity impact
PARTIAL Availability impact
PARTIAL Summary
useradd in shadow-utils before 4.0.3, and possibly other versions before 4.0.8, does not provide a required argument to the open function when creating a new user mailbox, which causes the mailbox to be created with unpredictable permissions and possibly allows attackers to read or modify the mailbox.
Vulnerable Configurations
Part | Description | Count |
---|---|---|
Application | 10 |
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
- Accessing, Modifying or Executing Executable Files An attack of this type exploits a system's configuration that allows an attacker to either directly access an executable file, for example through shell access; or in a possible worst case allows an attacker to upload a file and then execute it. Web servers, ftp servers, and message oriented middleware systems which have many integration points are particularly vulnerable, because both the programmers and the administrators must be in synch regarding the interfaces and the correct privileges for each interface.
- Leverage Executable Code in Non-Executable Files An attack of this type exploits a system's trust in configuration and resource files, when the executable loads the resource (such as an image file or configuration file) the attacker has modified the file to either execute malicious code directly or manipulate the target process (e.g. application server) to execute based on the malicious configuration parameters. Since systems are increasingly interrelated mashing up resources from local and remote sources the possibility of this attack occurring is high. The attack can be directed at a client system, such as causing buffer overrun through loading seemingly benign image files, as in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028 where specially crafted JPEG files could cause a buffer overrun once loaded into the browser. Another example targets clients reading pdf files. In this case the attacker simply appends javascript to the end of a legitimate url for a pdf (http://www.gnucitizen.org/blog/danger-danger-danger/) http://path/to/pdf/file.pdf#whatever_name_you_want=javascript:your_code_here The client assumes that they are reading a pdf, but the attacker has modified the resource and loaded executable javascript into the client's browser process. The attack can also target server processes. The attacker edits the resource or configuration file, for example a web.xml file used to configure security permissions for a J2EE app server, adding role name "public" grants all users with the public role the ability to use the administration functionality. The server trusts its configuration file to be correct, but when they are manipulated, the attacker gains full control.
- Blue Boxing This type of attack against older telephone switches and trunks has been around for decades. A tone is sent by an adversary to impersonate a supervisor signal which has the effect of rerouting or usurping command of the line. While the US infrastructure proper may not contain widespread vulnerabilities to this type of attack, many companies are connected globally through call centers and business process outsourcing. These international systems may be operated in countries which have not upgraded Telco infrastructure and so are vulnerable to Blue boxing. Blue boxing is a result of failure on the part of the system to enforce strong authorization for administrative functions. While the infrastructure is different than standard current applications like web applications, there are historical lessons to be learned to upgrade the access control for administrative functions.
- Restful Privilege Elevation Rest uses standard HTTP (Get, Put, Delete) style permissions methods, but these are not necessarily correlated generally with back end programs. Strict interpretation of HTTP get methods means that these HTTP Get services should not be used to delete information on the server, but there is no access control mechanism to back up this logic. This means that unless the services are properly ACL'd and the application's service implementation are following these guidelines then an HTTP request can easily execute a delete or update on the server side. The attacker identifies a HTTP Get URL such as http://victimsite/updateOrder, which calls out to a program to update orders on a database or other resource. The URL is not idempotent so the request can be submitted multiple times by the attacker, additionally, the attacker may be able to exploit the URL published as a Get method that actually performs updates (instead of merely retrieving data). This may result in malicious or inadvertent altering of data on the server.
- Target Programs with Elevated Privileges This attack targets programs running with elevated privileges. The attacker would try to leverage a bug in the running program and get arbitrary code to execute with elevated privileges. For instance an attacker would look for programs that write to the system directories or registry keys (such as HKLM, which stores a number of critical Windows environment variables). These programs are typically running with elevated privileges and have usually not been designed with security in mind. Such programs are excellent exploit targets because they yield lots of power when they break. The malicious user try to execute its code at the same level as a privileged system call.
Nessus
NASL family Red Hat Local Security Checks NASL id REDHAT-RHSA-2007-0431.NASL description An updated shadow-utils package that fixes a security issue and several bugs is now available. This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. The shadow-utils package includes the necessary programs for converting UNIX password files to the shadow password format, as well as programs for managing user and group accounts. A flaw was found in the useradd tool in shadow-utils. A new user last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 25478 published 2007-06-12 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2007-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/25478 title RHEL 3 : shadow-utils (RHSA-2007:0431) NASL family VMware ESX Local Security Checks NASL id VMWARE_VMSA-2007-0006.NASL description Problems addressed by these patches : I Arbitrary code execution and denial of service vulnerabilities This release fixes a security vulnerability that could allow a guest operating system user with administrative privileges to cause memory corruption in a host process, and thus potentially execute arbitrary code on the host. (CVE-2007-4496) This release fixes a denial of service vulnerability that could allow a guest operating system to cause a host process to become unresponsive or exit unexpectedly. (CVE-2007-4497) Thanks to Rafal Wojtczvk of McAfee for identifying and reporting these issues. II Hosted products DHCP security vulnerabilities addressed This release fixes several vulnerabilities in the DHCP server that could enable a specially crafted packets to gain system-level privileges. (CVE-2007-0061, CVE-2007-0062, CVE-2007-0063) Thanks to Neel Mehta and Ryan Smith of the IBM Internet Security Systems X-Force for discovering and researching these vulnerabilities. III Windows based hosted product vulnerability in IntraProcessLogging.dll and vielib.dll. This release fixes a security vulnerability that could allow a malicious remote user to exploit the library file IntraProcessLogging.dll to overwrite files in a system. (CVE-2007-4059) This release fixes a security vulnerability that could allow a malicious remote user to exploit the library file vielib.dll to overwrite files in a system. (CVE-2007-4155) Thanks to the Goodfellas Security Research Team for discovering and researching these vulnerabilities. IV Escalation of privileges on Windows hosted systems This release fixes a security vulnerability in which Workstation was starting registered Windows services in an insecure manner. This vulnerability could allow a malicious user to escalate user privileges. Thanks to Foundstone for discovering this vulnerability. V Potential denial of service using VMware Player This release fixes a problem that prevented VMware Player from launching. This problem was accompanied by the error message VMware Player unrecoverable error: (player) Exception 0xc0000005 (access violation) has occurred. VI ESX Service Console updates a. Service console package Samba, has been updated to address the following issues : Various bugs were found in NDR parsing, used to decode MS-RPC requests in Samba. A remote attacker could have sent carefully crafted requests causing a heap overflow, which may have led to the ability to execute arbitrary code on the server. (CVE-2007-2446) Unescaped user input parameters were being passed as arguments to /bin/sh. A remote, authenticated, user could have triggered this flaw and executed arbitrary code on the server. Additionally, this flaw could be triggered by a remote unauthenticated user if Samba was configured to use the non-default username map script option. (CVE-2007-2447) Thanks to the Samba developers, TippingPoint, and iDefense for identifying and reporting these issues. Note: These issues only affect the service console network, and are not remote vulnerabilities for ESX Server hosts that have been set up with the security best practices provided by VMware. http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/726 b. Updated bind package for the service console fixes a flaw with the way ISC BIND processed certain DNS query responses. ISC BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) is an implementation of the DNS (Domain Name System) protocols. Under some circumstances, a malicious remote user could launch a Denial-of-Service attack on ESX Server hosts that had enabled DNSSEC validation. (CVE-2007-0494) Note: These issues only affect the service console network, and are not remote vulnerabilities for ESX Server hosts that have been set up with the security best practices provided by VMware. http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/726 c. This patch provides updated service console package krb5 update. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) assigned the names CVE-2007-2442, CVE-2007-2443, and CVE-2007-2798 to these security issues. Thanks to Wei Wang of McAfee Avert Labs discovered these vulnerabilities. Note: The VMware service console does not provide the kadmind binary, and is not affected by these issues, but a update has been provided for completeness. d. Service console update for vixie-cron This patch provides an updated service console package vixie-cron. Cron is a standard UNIX daemon that runs specified programs at scheduled times. A denial of service issue was found in the way vixie-cron verified crontab file integrity. A local user with the ability to create a hardlink to /etc/crontab could potentially prevent vixie-cron from executing certain system cron jobs. (CVE-2007-1856) Thanks to Raphael Marichez for identifying this issue. e. Service console update for shadow-utils This patch provides an updated shadow-utils package. A new user last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 40370 published 2009-07-27 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2009-2018 Tenable Network Security, Inc. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/40370 title VMSA-2007-0006 : Critical security updates for all supported versions of VMware ESX Server, VMware Server, VMware Workstation, VMware ACE, and VMware Player NASL family Scientific Linux Local Security Checks NASL id SL_20070501_SHADOW_UTILS_ON_SL4_X.NASL description A flaw was found in the useradd tool in shadow-utils. A new user last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 60170 published 2012-08-01 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2012-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/60170 title Scientific Linux Security Update : shadow-utils on SL4.x i386/x86_64 NASL family Gentoo Local Security Checks NASL id GENTOO_GLSA-200606-02.NASL description The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-200606-02 (shadow: Privilege escalation) When the mailbox is created in useradd, the last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 21664 published 2006-06-08 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2006-2019 Tenable Network Security, Inc. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/21664 title GLSA-200606-02 : shadow: Privilege escalation NASL family Mandriva Local Security Checks NASL id MANDRAKE_MDKSA-2006-090.NASL description A potential security problem was found in the useradd tool when it creates a new user's mailbox due to a missing argument to the open() call, resulting in the first permissions of the file being some random garbage found on the stack, which could possibly be held open for reading or writing before the proper fchmod() call is executed. Packages have been patched to correct this issue. last seen 2017-10-29 modified 2012-09-07 plugin id 21601 published 2006-05-27 reporter Tenable source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/index.php?view=single&id=21601 title MDKSA-2006:090 : shadow-utils NASL family Oracle Linux Local Security Checks NASL id ORACLELINUX_ELSA-2007-0431.NASL description From Red Hat Security Advisory 2007:0431 : An updated shadow-utils package that fixes a security issue and several bugs is now available. This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. The shadow-utils package includes the necessary programs for converting UNIX password files to the shadow password format, as well as programs for managing user and group accounts. A flaw was found in the useradd tool in shadow-utils. A new user last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 67515 published 2013-07-12 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2013-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/67515 title Oracle Linux 3 : shadow-utils (ELSA-2007-0431) NASL family Scientific Linux Local Security Checks NASL id SL_20070611_SHADOW_UTILS_ON_SL3.NASL description A flaw was found in the useradd tool in shadow-utils. A new user last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 60203 published 2012-08-01 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2012-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/60203 title Scientific Linux Security Update : shadow-utils on SL3.x i386/x86_64 NASL family Oracle Linux Local Security Checks NASL id ORACLELINUX_ELSA-2007-0276.NASL description From Red Hat Security Advisory 2007:0276 : Updated shadow-utils packages that fix a security issue and various bugs are now available. This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. The shadow-utils package includes the necessary programs for converting UNIX password files to the shadow password format, as well as programs for managing user and group accounts. A flaw was found in the useradd tool in shadow-utils. A new user last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 67482 published 2013-07-12 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2013-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/67482 title Oracle Linux 4 : shadow-utils (ELSA-2007-0276) NASL family Red Hat Local Security Checks NASL id REDHAT-RHSA-2007-0276.NASL description Updated shadow-utils packages that fix a security issue and various bugs are now available. This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. The shadow-utils package includes the necessary programs for converting UNIX password files to the shadow password format, as well as programs for managing user and group accounts. A flaw was found in the useradd tool in shadow-utils. A new user last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 25144 published 2007-05-02 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2007-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/25144 title RHEL 4 : shadow-utils (RHSA-2007:0276) NASL family CentOS Local Security Checks NASL id CENTOS_RHSA-2007-0431.NASL description An updated shadow-utils package that fixes a security issue and several bugs is now available. This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. The shadow-utils package includes the necessary programs for converting UNIX password files to the shadow password format, as well as programs for managing user and group accounts. A flaw was found in the useradd tool in shadow-utils. A new user last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 25497 published 2007-06-14 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2007-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/25497 title CentOS 3 : shadow-utils (CESA-2007:0431) NASL family CentOS Local Security Checks NASL id CENTOS_RHSA-2007-0276.NASL description Updated shadow-utils packages that fix a security issue and various bugs are now available. This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. The shadow-utils package includes the necessary programs for converting UNIX password files to the shadow password format, as well as programs for managing user and group accounts. A flaw was found in the useradd tool in shadow-utils. A new user last seen 2020-06-01 modified 2020-06-02 plugin id 67048 published 2013-06-29 reporter This script is Copyright (C) 2013-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof. source https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/67048 title CentOS 4 : shadow-utils (CESA-2007:0276)
Oval
accepted | 2013-04-29T04:08:57.659-04:00 | ||||||||||||||||||||
class | vulnerability | ||||||||||||||||||||
contributors |
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definition_extensions |
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description | useradd in shadow-utils before 4.0.3, and possibly other versions before 4.0.8, does not provide a required argument to the open function when creating a new user mailbox, which causes the mailbox to be created with unpredictable permissions and possibly allows attackers to read or modify the mailbox. | ||||||||||||||||||||
family | unix | ||||||||||||||||||||
id | oval:org.mitre.oval:def:10807 | ||||||||||||||||||||
status | accepted | ||||||||||||||||||||
submitted | 2010-07-09T03:56:16-04:00 | ||||||||||||||||||||
title | useradd in shadow-utils before 4.0.3, and possibly other versions before 4.0.8, does not provide a required argument to the open function when creating a new user mailbox, which causes the mailbox to be created with unpredictable permissions and possibly allows attackers to read or modify the mailbox. | ||||||||||||||||||||
version | 25 |
Redhat
advisories |
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rpms |
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Statements
contributor | Mark J Cox |
lastmodified | 2007-09-06 |
organization | Red Hat |
statement | Red Hat is aware of this issue and is tracking it via the following bugs: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=193053 https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=229194 The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this issue as having low security impact, a future update may address this flaw. More information regarding issue severity can be found here: http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/ The risks associated with fixing this bug are greater than the low severity security risk. We therefore currently have no plans to fix this flaw in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 which is in maintenance mode. |
References
- ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/advisories/20070602-01-P.asc
- http://cvs.pld.org.pl/shadow/NEWS?rev=1.109
- http://lists.grok.org.uk/pipermail/full-disclosure/2007-September/065902.html
- http://secunia.com/advisories/20370
- http://secunia.com/advisories/20506
- http://secunia.com/advisories/25098
- http://secunia.com/advisories/25267
- http://secunia.com/advisories/25629
- http://secunia.com/advisories/25894
- http://secunia.com/advisories/25896
- http://secunia.com/advisories/26909
- http://secunia.com/advisories/27706
- http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2007-249.htm
- http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200606-02.xml
- http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/312692
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2006:090
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2007-0276.html
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2007-0431.html
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/468336/100/0/threaded
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/18111
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1018221
- http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2006/2006
- http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2007/3229
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/26958
- https://issues.rpath.com/browse/RPL-1357
- https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A10807