[ GLSA 200710-15 ] KDM: Local privilege escalation

[GLSA]

Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Title: KDM: Local privilege escalation (GLSA 200710-15)
Severity: high
Exploitable: local
Date: October 14, 2007
Bug(s): #192373
ID: 200710-15

Synopsis

KDM allows logins without password under certain circumstances allowing a local user to gain elevated privileges.

Background

KDM is the Display Manager for the graphical desktop environment KDE. It is part of the kdebase package.

Affected Packages

Package: kde-base/kdm
Vulnerable: < 3.5.7-r2
Unaffected: >= 3.5.7-r2
Architectures: All supported architectures

Package: kde-base/kdebase
Vulnerable: < 3.5.7-r4
Unaffected: >= 3.5.7-r4
Architectures: All supported architectures


Description

Kees Huijgen discovered an error when checking the credentials which can lead to a login without specifying a password. This only occurs when auto login is configured for at least one user and a password is required to shut down the machine.

Impact

A local attacker could gain root privileges and execute arbitrary commands by logging in as root without specifying root's password.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All KDM users should upgrade to the latest version: