Borland Interbase admin.ib Administrative Access Vulnerability

iDEFENSE Security Advisory 03.19.04
www.idefense.com/application/poi/display?id=80&type=vulnerabilities
March 19, 2004

I. BACKGROUND

Borland Interbase is a small, high performance commercial database for
Linux, Solaris, and Windows operating systems. More information about
Borland Interbase is available at http://www.borland.com/interbase/.

II. DESCRIPTION

Exploitation of default file permissions in Borland Interbase can allow
local attackers to gain database administrative privileges.

The vulnerability specifically exists due to insecure permissions on the
admin.ib user database file. Local attackers can add or modify existing
accounts to gain administrative privileges.

The default file permissions are shown below:

    [root@labs interbase]# ls -l /opt/interbase/admin.ib

    -rw-rw-rw- 1 root root 616497 Dec 30 11:17 /opt/interbase/admin.ib

III. ANALYSIS

Successful exploitation yields administrative privileges over the
database to local attackers. This can lead to further compromise as any
information stored within the database is now available to the attacker.
This may include: authentication information, financial information and
personal information.

Exploit code for this issue is unnecessary.

IV. DETECTION

iDEFENSE has confirmed the existence of this vulnerability in Borland
Interbase 7.1 for Linux. It is suspected that previous versions of
Borland Interbase for Linux are also vulnerable.

V. WORKAROUNDS

Remove global write permissions from the admin.ib user database file.

    [root@labs interbase]# chmod 664 /opt/interbase/admin.ib

    [root@labs interbase]# ls -l /opt/interbase/admin.ib

    -rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 616497 Dec 30 11:17 /opt/interbase/admin.ib

VI. CVE INFORMATION

A Mitre Corp. Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) number has not
been assigned yet.

VII. DISCLOSURE TIMELINE

January 13, 2004    Vulnerability acquired by iDEFENSE 
February 9, 2004    Initial vendor notification sent - no response
February 12, 2004   iDEFENSE clients notified
March 1, 2004       Secondary vendor notification sent - no response
March 19, 2004      Public disclosure

VIII. CREDIT

Larry Cashdollar (http://vapid.dhs.org) is credited with this discovery.

Get paid for vulnerability research
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IX. LEGAL NOTICES

Copyright (c) 2004 iDEFENSE, Inc.

Permission is granted for the redistribution of this alert
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Disclaimer: The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate
at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use
of the information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition.
There are no warranties with regard to this information. Neither the
author nor the publisher accepts any liability for any direct, indirect,
or consequential loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on,
this information.

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