Subject SGI IRIX V4 serial_ports vulnerability Date 04-Oct-94
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>> CERT-NL, 01-Mar-2000 <<
>> All CERT-NL information has been moved to http://cert.surfnet.nl. Links <<
>> to CERT-NL information contained in this advisory are therefore outdated. <<
>> <<
>> CERT-NL also has stopped the CERT-CC-Mirror service. Due to this the <<
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Security Advisory CERT-NL
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Author/Source : CERT-NL (Erik-Jan Bos) Index : S-94-20
Distribution : World Page : 1
Classification: External Version: Final
Subject : SGI IRIX V4 serial_ports vulnerability Date : 04-Oct-94
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CERT-NL has received information that Version 4 of Silicon Graphics
IRIX operating system contains a vulnerability. This vulnerability
allows a user on your system to elevate their privilege level to root
status.
1. Description
The /usr/lib/vadmin/serial_ports program contains a vulnerability that
allows a non-privileged user to gain root privileges. The program is
used to set up the serial ports on your SGI IRIX system.
The vulnerability only exists under Version 4 of IRIX. It was tested
and verified under V4.0.5a. The program serial_ports does not exist
under Version 5 of IRIX. The equivalent program /usr/Cadmin/bin/cports
on Version 5 of IRIX does not exhibit the vulnerability.
The information on how to exploit this vulnerability has been widely
published. It is recommended that the action in Section 3 be applied
immediately.
2. Impact
Any non-privileged user logged in on your system may gain root
privileges.
3. Proposed Solutions
This solution need only be applied to IRIX Version 4 systems.
The /usr/lib/vadmin/serial_ports program is used to initialise the data
files for the serial ports on your system.
It can be disabled by typing the following command as root:
# /bin/chmod 700 /usr/lib/vadmin/serial_ports
If you are not using the serial ports on your IRIX Version 4 system,
then you can safely disable this program.
If you are using serial ports and do not wish to change the
configuration of those ports, then you can disable this program.
If you intend changing the serial port configuration, you can still
disable the serial_ports program. The change the serial port
configuration, you can run the serial_ports program as root.
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CERT-NL received the information on this vulnerability from AUSCERT,
the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team. CERT-NL therefore
wishes to thank the colleagues from AUSCERT for bringing this information
to the attention of CERT-NL.
The AUSCERT team wishes to thank Jeffrey Olds of Silicon Graphics for his
advice and cooperation in this matter.
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