Bugtraq mailing list archives
IRIX midikeys root exploit.
From: lwcashd () BIW COM (Larry W. Cashdollar)
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 11:25:59 -0400
Aleph1, Please forgive me if this has already been on this list. I searched geek-girl with no luck. I have been auditing our IRIX boxes and found what I believe to be a new vulnerability. On IRIX 6.5 systems (IRIX Release 6.5 IP28 ) # uname -a IRIX64 devel 6.5 05190004 The setuid root binary midikeys can be used to read any file on the system using its gui interface. It can also be used to edit anyfile on the system. I was able to get from guest account access to root access using the following procedure. 1) Choose an unpassworded account and telnet in. I like guest or lp. devel 25% id uid=998 gid=998(guest) 2) Execute the midikeys application with display set to your host. devel 26% ./midikeys devel 27% Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display "grinch:0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display "grinch:0.0". 3) under the midikeys window click sounds and then midi songs. This will open a file manager type interface. 4) You can enter the path and filename of files you which to read. including root owned with group/world read/write permissions unset. 5) If you select a file like "/usr/share/data/music/README" it will appear in a text editor. Use the text editor to open /etc/passwd and make modifications at will. Save and enjoy. So I removed the '*' from sysadm... $ su sysadm # id uid=0(root) gid=0(sys) devel 28% ls -l /usr/sbin/midikeys -rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 218712 Jan 10 17:19 /usr/sbin/midikeys I have tested this on 2 IRIX 6.5 hosts with success. A patch exists for startmidi and stopmidi buffer overflows. More info on previous patch: ftp://sgigate.sgi.com/security/19980301-01-PX). However, I didnt find any for midikeys. -- Larry W. Cashdollar UNIX/Security Operations. Computer Sciences Corporation.
Current thread:
- IRIX midikeys root exploit. Larry W. Cashdollar (May 19)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: IRIX midikeys root exploit. Erik Mouw (May 20)
- Re: IRIX midikeys root exploit. Philipp Schott (May 20)
- Re: IRIX midikeys root exploit. Björn Torkelsson (May 20)
- Re: IRIX midikeys root exploit. Steve Allen (May 21)