Vulnerabilities > CVE-2012-0961 - Information Exposure vulnerability in Debian Advanced Package Tool and APT

047910
CVSS 2.1 - LOW
Attack vector
LOCAL
Attack complexity
LOW
Privileges required
NONE
Confidentiality impact
PARTIAL
Integrity impact
NONE
Availability impact
NONE
local
low complexity
debian
CWE-200
nessus

Summary

Apt 0.8.16~exp5ubuntu13.x before 0.8.16~exp5ubuntu13.6, 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.x before 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.7, and 0.9.7.5ubuntu5.x before 0.9.7.5ubuntu5.2, as used in Ubuntu, uses world-readable permissions for /var/log/apt/term.log, which allows local users to obtain sensitive shell information by reading the log file.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
Application
Debian
2

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Subverting Environment Variable Values
    The attacker directly or indirectly modifies environment variables used by or controlling the target software. The attacker's goal is to cause the target software to deviate from its expected operation in a manner that benefits the attacker.
  • Footprinting
    An attacker engages in probing and exploration activity to identify constituents and properties of the target. Footprinting is a general term to describe a variety of information gathering techniques, often used by attackers in preparation for some attack. It consists of using tools to learn as much as possible about the composition, configuration, and security mechanisms of the targeted application, system or network. Information that might be collected during a footprinting effort could include open ports, applications and their versions, network topology, and similar information. While footprinting is not intended to be damaging (although certain activities, such as network scans, can sometimes cause disruptions to vulnerable applications inadvertently) it may often pave the way for more damaging attacks.
  • Exploiting Trust in Client (aka Make the Client Invisible)
    An attack of this type exploits a programs' vulnerabilities in client/server communication channel authentication and data integrity. It leverages the implicit trust a server places in the client, or more importantly, that which the server believes is the client. An attacker executes this type of attack by placing themselves in the communication channel between client and server such that communication directly to the server is possible where the server believes it is communicating only with a valid client. There are numerous variations of this type of attack.
  • Browser Fingerprinting
    An attacker carefully crafts small snippets of Java Script to efficiently detect the type of browser the potential victim is using. Many web-based attacks need prior knowledge of the web browser including the version of browser to ensure successful exploitation of a vulnerability. Having this knowledge allows an attacker to target the victim with attacks that specifically exploit known or zero day weaknesses in the type and version of the browser used by the victim. Automating this process via Java Script as a part of the same delivery system used to exploit the browser is considered more efficient as the attacker can supply a browser fingerprinting method and integrate it with exploit code, all contained in Java Script and in response to the same web page request by the browser.
  • Session Credential Falsification through Prediction
    This attack targets predictable session ID in order to gain privileges. The attacker can predict the session ID used during a transaction to perform spoofing and session hijacking.

Nessus

NASL familyUbuntu Local Security Checks
NASL idUBUNTU_USN-1662-1.NASL
descriptionIt was discovered that APT set inappropriate permissions on the term.log file. A local attacker could use this flaw to possibly obtain sensitive information. Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.
last seen2020-06-01
modified2020-06-02
plugin id63260
published2012-12-13
reporterUbuntu Security Notice (C) 2012-2019 Canonical, Inc. / NASL script (C) 2012-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/63260
titleUbuntu 11.10 / 12.04 LTS / 12.10 : apt vulnerability (USN-1662-1)
code
#
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#
# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were
# extracted from Ubuntu Security Notice USN-1662-1. The text 
# itself is copyright (C) Canonical, Inc. See 
# <http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/>. Ubuntu(R) is a registered 
# trademark of Canonical, Inc.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(63260);
  script_version("1.8");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/09/19 12:54:28");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2012-0961");
  script_xref(name:"USN", value:"1662-1");

  script_name(english:"Ubuntu 11.10 / 12.04 LTS / 12.10 : apt vulnerability (USN-1662-1)");
  script_summary(english:"Checks dpkg output for updated package.");

  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"synopsis", 
    value:"The remote Ubuntu host is missing a security-related patch."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"description", 
    value:
"It was discovered that APT set inappropriate permissions on the
term.log file. A local attacker could use this flaw to possibly obtain
sensitive information.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding
description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable
has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible
without introducing additional issues."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"https://usn.ubuntu.com/1662-1/"
  );
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:"Update the affected apt package.");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:apt");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:11.10");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:-:lts");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.10");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2012/12/26");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2012/12/12");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2012/12/13");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright(english:"Ubuntu Security Notice (C) 2012-2019 Canonical, Inc. / NASL script (C) 2012-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");
  script_family(english:"Ubuntu Local Security Checks");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/cpu", "Host/Ubuntu", "Host/Ubuntu/release", "Host/Debian/dpkg-l");

  exit(0);
}


include("audit.inc");
include("ubuntu.inc");
include("misc_func.inc");

if ( ! get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled") ) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
release = get_kb_item("Host/Ubuntu/release");
if ( isnull(release) ) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Ubuntu");
release = chomp(release);
if (! preg(pattern:"^(11\.10|12\.04|12\.10)$", string:release)) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "Ubuntu 11.10 / 12.04 / 12.10", "Ubuntu " + release);
if ( ! get_kb_item("Host/Debian/dpkg-l") ) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);

cpu = get_kb_item("Host/cpu");
if (isnull(cpu)) audit(AUDIT_UNKNOWN_ARCH);
if ("x86_64" >!< cpu && cpu !~ "^i[3-6]86$") audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, "Ubuntu", cpu);

flag = 0;

if (ubuntu_check(osver:"11.10", pkgname:"apt", pkgver:"0.8.16~exp5ubuntu13.6")) flag++;
if (ubuntu_check(osver:"12.04", pkgname:"apt", pkgver:"0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.7")) flag++;
if (ubuntu_check(osver:"12.10", pkgname:"apt", pkgver:"0.9.7.5ubuntu5.2")) flag++;

if (flag)
{
  security_report_v4(
    port       : 0,
    severity   : SECURITY_NOTE,
    extra      : ubuntu_report_get()
  );
  exit(0);
}
else
{
  tested = ubuntu_pkg_tests_get();
  if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested);
  else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, "apt");
}