Link following in groff - CVE-2009-5079
Published: June 30, 2011 / Updated: August 11, 2020
Vulnerability identifier: #VU44902
CSH Severity: Medium
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green
CVE-ID: CVE-2009-5079
CWE-ID: CWE-59
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: GNU
Affected software:
groff
groff
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a remote non-authenticated attacker to manipulate or delete data.
The (1) gendef.sh, (2) doc/fixinfo.sh, and (3) contrib/gdiffmk/tests/runtests.in scripts in GNU troff (aka groff) 1.21 and earlier allow local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a gro#####.tmp or /tmp/##### temporary file.
How to mitigate CVE-2009-5079
Install update from vendor's website.
Sources
- http://cvsweb.openwall.com/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/Owl/packages/groff/groff-1.20.1-owl-tmp.diff
- http://cvsweb.openwall.com/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/Owl/packages/groff/groff-1.20.1-owl-tmp.diff.diff?r1=1.1;r2=1.2;f=h
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/08/14/4
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/08/14/5
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2013:085
- http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2013:086