============================================================================= CA-93:18 CERT Advisory December 15, 1993 SunOS/Solbourne loadmodule and modload Vulnerability ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The CERT Coordination Center has received information concerning a vulnerability in /usr/etc/modload and $OPENWINHOME/bin/loadmodule in Sun Microsystems, Inc. SunOS 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, and 4.1.3c and OpenWindows 3.0 on all sun4 and Solbourne Computer, Inc. architectures. The problem does not exist in Solaris 2.x, Solaris x86, and sun3 architectures (OpenWindows 3.0 was not released for the sun3 architecture). Sun has produced a patch for these vulnerabilities for sun4 architectures. It is available through your local Sun Answer Center as well as through anonymous FTP from the ftp.uu.net system in the /systems/sun/sun-dist directory or from the ftp.eu.net system in the /sun/fixes directory. Solbourne has announced a workaround that is included below. Please note that this advisory supersedes CERT Advisory CA-91:22 "SunOS OpenWindows Vulnerability". ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Description loadmodule(8) and modload(8) can be exploited to execute a user's program using the effective UID of root. II. Impact This vulnerability allows a local user to gain root access. III. Solution A. SunOS Solution Obtain and install the appropriate patches according to the instructions included with the patches. Module Patch ID Filename ---------- --------- --------------- loadmodule 100448-02 100448-02.tar.Z BSD Checksum = 19410 5 MD5 Checksum = 0215910cf65e055ed3042070bd961a22 modload 101200-02 101200-02.tar.Z BSD Checksum = 41677 28 MD5 Checksum = 626ab2917204eb6e6eb5f165cca3e908 B. Solbourne Solution Solbourne systems do not support the "loadmodule" functionality. This vulnerability can be fixed on Solbourne systems by removing the setuid bit: chmod 0755 /usr/openwin/bin/loadmodule The modload program does not need to replaced or changed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The CERT Coordination Center wishes to thank Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Solbourne Computers, Inc. for their support in responding to this problem. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you believe that your system has been compromised, contact the CERT Coordination Center or your representative in Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST). Internet E-mail: cert@cert.org Telephone: 412-268-7090 (24-hour hotline) CERT personnel answer 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. EST(GMT-5)/EDT(GMT-4), and are on call for emergencies during other hours. CERT Coordination Center Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 Past advisories, information about FIRST representatives, and other information related to computer security are available for anonymous FTP from info.cert.org.