- Issued:
- 2010-11-17
- Updated:
- 2010-11-17
RHSA-2010:0895 - Moderate: systemtap security update
Synopsis
Moderate: systemtap security update
Type/Severity
Security Advisory Moderate
Topic
Updated systemtap packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.
The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderate security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in the References section.
Description
SystemTap is an instrumentation system for systems running the Linux kernel, version 2.6. Developers can write scripts to collect data on the operation of the system. staprun, the SystemTap runtime tool, is used for managing SystemTap kernel modules (for example, loading them).
It was discovered that staprun did not properly sanitize the environment before executing the modprobe command to load an additional kernel module. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-4170)
Note: On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, an attacker must be a member of the stapusr group to exploit this issue. Also note that, after installing this update, users already in the stapdev group must be added to the stapusr group in order to be able to run the staprun tool.
Red Hat would like to thank Tavis Ormandy for reporting this issue.
SystemTap users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to correct this issue.
Solution
Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.
This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259
Affected Products
| Product | Version | Arch |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support | 4.8 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support | 4.8 | ia64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support | 4.8 | i386 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian | 4 | ppc |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support | 4.8 | ppc |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation | 4 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation | 4 | ia64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation | 4 | i386 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server | 4 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server | 4 | ia64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server | 4 | i386 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop | 4 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop | 4 | i386 |
Updated Packages
- systemtap-testsuite-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.x86_64.rpm
- systemtap-testsuite-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.ppc64.rpm
- systemtap-runtime-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.x86_64.rpm
- systemtap-runtime-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.ia64.rpm
- systemtap-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.src.rpm
- systemtap-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.ia64.rpm
- systemtap-runtime-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.i386.rpm
- systemtap-testsuite-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.i386.rpm
- systemtap-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.x86_64.rpm
- systemtap-runtime-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.ppc64.rpm
- systemtap-testsuite-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.ia64.rpm
- systemtap-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.ppc64.rpm
- systemtap-0.6.2-2.el4_8.3.i386.rpm
Fixes
CVEs
References
Additional information
- The Red Hat security contact is This content is not included.secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.
- Offline Security Data data is available for integration with other systems. See Offline Security Data API to get started.