Util-linux login may leak sensitive data — GLSA 200404-06

The login program included in util-linux could leak sensitive information under certain conditions.

Affected packages

sys-apps/util-linux on all architectures
Affected versions <= 2.11
Unaffected versions >= 2.12

Background

Util-linux is a suite of essential system utilites, including login, agetty, fdisk.

Description

In some situations the login program could leak sensitive data due to an incorrect usage of a reallocated pointer.

NOTE: Only users who have PAM support disabled on their systems (i.e. -PAM in their USE variable) will be affected by this vulnerability. By default, this USE flag is enabled on all architectures. Users with PAM support on their system receive login binaries as part of the pam-login package, which remains unaffected.

Impact

A remote attacker may obtain sensitive data.

Workaround

A workaround is not currently known for this issue. All users are advised to upgrade to the latest version of the affected package.

Resolution

All util-linux users should upgrade to version 2.12 or later:

 # emerge sync
 
	# emerge -pv ">=sys-apps/util-linux-2.12"
 # emerge ">=sys-apps/util-linux-2.12"
 

References

Release date
April 07, 2004

Latest revision
April 07, 2004: 01

Severity
low

Exploitable
remote

Bugzilla entries