rPSA-2008-0318-1 initscripts

rPath Security Advisory: 2008-0318-1
Published: 2008-11-12
Products:
rPath Appliance Platform Linux Service 1
rPath Appliance Platform Linux Service 2
rPath Linux 1
rPath Linux 2

Rating: Major
Exposure Level Classification:
Local Root Deterministic Denial of Service
Updated Versions:
initscripts=conary.rpath.com@rpl:1/8.12-8.22-1
initscripts=conary.rpath.com@rpl:2/8.56.15-0.2-1

rPath Issue Tracking System:
https://issues.rpath.com/browse/RPL-2857
https://issues.rpath.com/browse/RPL-2877

References:
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-3524
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-4832

Description:
Previous versions of the initscripts package are vulnerable to a Denial
of Service attack in which a local user may cause arbitrary files to
be deleted at next boot time by creating symlinks under various /var
subdirectories.

A future release of rPath Appliance Platform Agent (rAPA)
will contain a text-mode console that allows initial network
configuration to be done from the text console when an appliance
cannot be initially configured via DHCP.  The initscripts package
has been enhanced to support this text-mode console functionality.
If the /sbin/rapa-console program (which will be available as part of
the rapa-console package) is installed on the system, then it will be
run on virtual console 1 instead of a standard shell login session.
The login information used for this text-mode console is the rAPA
user login information, not system user login information.

http://wiki.rpath.com/Advisories:rPSA-2008-0318

Copyright 2008 rPath, Inc.
This file is distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
A copy is available at http://www.rpath.com/permanent/mit-license.html