GCC-XML: Insecure temporary file usage — GLSA 200909-11

An insecure temporary file usage has been reported in GCC-XML allowing for symlink attacks.

Affected packages

dev-cpp/gccxml on all architectures
Affected versions < 0.9.0_pre20090516
Unaffected versions >= 0.9.0_pre20090516

Background

GCC-XML is an XML output extension to the C++ front-end of GCC.

Description

Dmitry E. Oboukhov reported that find_flags in GCC-XML does not handle "/tmp/*.cxx" temporary files securely.

Impact

A local attacker could perform symlink attacks to overwrite arbitrary files with the privileges of the user running the application.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All GCC-XML users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-cpp/gccxml-0.9.0_pre20090516"

References

Release date
September 09, 2009

Latest revision
September 09, 2009: 01

Severity
normal

Exploitable
local

Bugzilla entries