- Issued:
- 2013-09-19
- Updated:
- 2013-09-19
RHSA-2013:1270 - Important: polkit security update
Synopsis
Important: polkit security update
Type/Severity
Security Advisory Important
Topic
Updated polkit packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having important 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
PolicyKit is a toolkit for defining and handling authorizations.
A race condition was found in the way the PolicyKit pkcheck utility checked process authorization when the process was specified by its process ID via the --process option. A local user could use this flaw to bypass intended PolicyKit authorizations and escalate their privileges. (CVE-2013-4288)
Note: Applications that invoke pkcheck with the --process option need to be modified to use the pid,pid-start-time,uid argument for that option, to allow pkcheck to check process authorization correctly.
Red Hat would like to thank Sebastian Krahmer of the SUSE Security Team for reporting this issue.
All polkit users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to correct this issue. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.
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 https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/11258
Affected Products
| Product | Version | Arch |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Storage for Public Cloud (via RHUI) | 2.1 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Gluster Storage Server for On-premise | 2.1 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support | 6.4 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support | 6.4 | i386 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing | 6 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian | 6 | ppc64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support | 6.4 | ppc64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems | 6 | s390x |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support | 6.4 | s390x |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation | 6 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation | 6 | i386 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server | 6 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server | 6 | i386 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI | 6 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI | 6 | i386 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI | 6.4 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI | 6.4 | i386 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support | 6 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support | 6 | i386 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension | 6 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension | 6 | i386 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems) | 6 | s390x |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) | 6 | s390x |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS | 6.4 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node | 6.4 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop | 6 | x86_64 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop | 6 | i386 |
Updated Packages
- polkit-debuginfo-0.96-5.el6_4.ppc64.rpm
- polkit-0.96-5.el6_4.i686.rpm
- polkit-devel-0.96-5.el6_4.ppc.rpm
- polkit-0.96-5.el6_4.src.rpm
- polkit-0.96-5.el6_4.ppc.rpm
- polkit-debuginfo-0.96-5.el6_4.s390x.rpm
- polkit-devel-0.96-5.el6_4.s390x.rpm
- polkit-devel-0.96-5.el6_4.s390.rpm
- polkit-devel-0.96-5.el6_4.i686.rpm
- polkit-0.96-5.el6_4.x86_64.rpm
- polkit-desktop-policy-0.96-5.el6_4.noarch.rpm
- polkit-debuginfo-0.96-5.el6_4.ppc.rpm
- polkit-docs-0.96-5.el6_4.i686.rpm
- polkit-0.96-5.el6_4.ppc64.rpm
- polkit-docs-0.96-5.el6_4.ppc64.rpm
- polkit-0.96-5.el6_4.s390x.rpm
- polkit-debuginfo-0.96-5.el6_4.i686.rpm
- polkit-0.96-5.el6_4.s390.rpm
- polkit-debuginfo-0.96-5.el6_4.s390.rpm
- polkit-devel-0.96-5.el6_4.ppc64.rpm
- polkit-docs-0.96-5.el6_4.s390x.rpm
- polkit-devel-0.96-5.el6_4.x86_64.rpm
- polkit-debuginfo-0.96-5.el6_4.x86_64.rpm
- polkit-docs-0.96-5.el6_4.x86_64.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.