[ GLSA 200501-43 ] f2c: Insecure temporary file creation

[GLSA]

Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Title: f2c: Insecure temporary file creation (GLSA 200501-43)
Severity: normal
Exploitable: local
Date: January 30, 2005
Bug(s): #79725
ID: 200501-43

Synopsis


f2c is vulnerable to symlink attacks, potentially allowing a local user to
overwrite arbitrary files.


Background


f2c is a Fortran to C translator. Portage uses this package in
some ebuilds to build Fortran sources.


Affected Packages

Package: dev-lang/f2c
Vulnerable: <= 20030320
Unaffected: >= 20030320-r1
Architectures: All supported architectures


Description


Javier Fernandez-Sanguino Pena from the Debian Security Audit Team
discovered that f2c creates temporary files in world-writeable
directories with predictable names.


Impact


A local attacker could create symbolic links in the temporary
files directory, pointing to a valid file somewhere on the filesystem.
When f2c is executed, this would result in the file being overwritten
with the rights of the user running the software, which could be the
root user.


Workaround


There is no known workaround at this time.


Resolution


All f2c users should upgrade to the latest version: