Linux Mint 8 mintUpdate Insecure Temporary File Creation

[L4teral <l4teral () gmail com>]

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Linux Mint 8 mintUpdate Insecure Temporary File Creation
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Author:          L4teral <l4teral [at] gmail com>
Impact:          Privilege Escalation
Status:          Update available


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Affected software description:
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Application:     mintUpdate (Linux Mint)
Version:         Linux Mint 8
Vendor:          http://linuxmint.com

Description:
Linux Mint's purpose is to produce an elegant, up to date and
comfortable GNU/Linux desktop distribution.


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Vulnerability:
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The Linux Mint update tool mintUpdate creates temporary files in the
/tmp/mintUpdate/ directory in an insecure way. This can be exploited
to overwrite restricted files via symlink attacks.


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PoC/Exploit:
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The symlinks must exist when the user clicks on the mintUpdate Icon.
After requesting root privileges via sudo, the update tool overwrites
the target file with log data. This could be exploited to destroy
crucial system files.


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Solution:
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Update to Linux Mint 9
or apply the following patch:
http://github.com/linuxmint/mintupdate/commit/301993906c694eb119cd9614817de57e7b0c874c


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Timeline:
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2010-03-08 - vendor informed
2010-03-17 - vendor response, patched in source repository
2010-05-18 - Linux Mint 9 released, public disclosure