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CERT Advisory 120
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CERT(sm) Advisory CA-96.15
Original issue date: July 31, 1996
Last revised: February 25, 1997
Introduction - added information that CERT/CC has received
reports of this vulnerability being exploited.
Added copyright information.
A complete revision history is at the end of this file.
Topic: Vulnerability in Solaris 2.5 KCMS programs
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The text of this advisory was originally released on July 26, 1996, as
AUSCERT Advisory AL-96.02, developed by the Australian Computer Emergency
Response Team. Because of the seriousness of the problem, we are reprinting
the AUSCERT advisory here with their permission. Only the contact
information at the end has changed: AUSCERT contact information has been
replaced with CERT/CC contact information.
Note that this vulnerability also affects Solaris 2.5.1.
The CERT/CC has received reports that this vulnerability has
been exploited.
We will update this advisory as we receive additional information.
Please check advisory files regularly for updates that relate to your site.
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AUSCERT have received a report of a vulnerability in the Sun Microsystems
Solaris 2.5 distribution involving the programs kcms_calibrate and
kcms_configure. These programs are part of the Kodak Color Management
System (KCMS) packages.
This vulnerability may allow any local user to gain root privileges.
Exploit details involving this vulnerability have been made publicly
available.
At this stage, AUSCERT is not aware of any official patches. AUSCERT
recommends that sites take the actions suggested in Section 3 until official
patches are available.
Depending on the local sites' requirements, the Solaris 2.5 KCMS packages
may or may not have been installed. AUSCERT recommends that individual
sites should determine whether the programs are installed and take
appropriate action.
This Alert will be updated as more information becomes available.
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1. Description
Solaris 2.5 contains support for the Kodak Color Management System (KCMS),
a set of Openwindows compliant API's and libraries to create and manage
profiles that can describe and control the colour performance of monitors,
scanners, printers and film recorders.
KCMS includes the programs kcms_configure and kcms_calibrate which are
used for the configuration and calibration of an X11 window system for
use with the KCMS library. When installed, these programs have
set-user-id root and set-group-id bin privileges.
A vulnerability involving these programs has been reported. Exploit
details involving this vulnerability have been made publicly available.
Depending on the local sites' requirements, the Solaris 2.5 KCMS packages
may or may not have been installed.
2. Impact
A local user may be able to create and then write to arbitrary files on the
system. This can be leveraged to gain root privileges.
3. Workarounds/Solution
Currently, there are no official patches available. When patches are
made available it is suggested the sites install the official patches.
Until official patches are available sites are encouraged to remove
the setuid and setgid permissions on the kcms_calibrate and kcms_configure
programs. These are typically located in /usr/openwin/bin.
# chmod 400 /usr/openwin/bin/kcms_calibrate
# chmod 400 /usr/openwin/bin/kcms_configure
Note that this will remove the ability for users to run these programs.
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AUSCERT wishes to thanks Marek Krawus of the University of Queensland for
his assistance in this matter.
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If you believe that your system has been compromised, contact the CERT
Coordination Center or your representative in the Forum of Incident
Response and Security Teams (FIRST).
We strongly urge you to encrypt any sensitive information you send by email.
The CERT Coordination Center can support a shared DES key and PGP. Contact
the CERT staff for more information.
Location of CERT PGP key
ftp://info.cert.org/pub/CERT_PGP.key
CERT Contact Information
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Email cert@cert.org
Phone +1 412-268-7090 (24-hour hotline)
CERT personnel answer 8:30-5:00 p.m. EST
(GMT-5)/EDT(GMT-4), and are on call for
emergencies during other hours.
Fax +1 412-268-6989
Postal address
CERT Coordination Center
Software Engineering Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890
USA
CERT publications, information about FIRST representatives, and other
security-related information are available for anonymous FTP from
http://www.cert.org/
ftp://info.cert.org/pub/
CERT advisories and bulletins are also posted on the USENET newsgroup
comp.security.announce
To be added to our mailing list for CERT advisories and bulletins, send your
email address to
cert-advisory-request@cert.org
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Copyright 1997 Carnegie Mellon University
This material may be reproduced and distributed without permission provided
it is used for noncommercial purposes and the copyright statement is
included.
CERT is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University.
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This file: ftp://info.cert.org/pub/cert_advisories/CA-96.15_Solaris_KCMS_vul
http://www.cert.org
click on "CERT Advisories"
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Revision history
Feb. 25, 1997 Introduction - added information that CERT/CC has received
reports of this vulnerability being exploited.
Added copyright information.
Aug. 30, 1996 Information previously in the README was inserted into the
advisory.
Beginning of the AUSCERT text - removed AUSCERT advisory
header to avoid confusion.
Aug. 02, 1996 Introduction - added information about Solaris 2.5.1.
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