Vulnerability Note VU#330638

KDE DCOPServer insecurely creates temporary files

Overview

KDE DCOPServer insecurely creates and maintains temporary files used for authentication purposes. Unauthorized local users may be able to modify user account information and execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the compromised account.

I. Description

The Desktop COmmunications Protocol (DCOP) is a lightweight mechanism to facilitate inter-process communication over sockets. The KDE DCOPServer is an implementation of DCOP for the KDE Desktop Environment. Reports claim the KDE DCOPServer insecurely creates temporary files potentially allowing unauthorized local users to access and modify them. Affected versions include all releases within the 3.2.x branch.

II. Impact

An unauthorized local user may be able to view and change user account information leading to execution of arbitrary commands with the privileges of the compromised account.

III. Solution

Apply patches for KDE 3.2.3:

ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/security_patches/post-3.2.3-kdelibs-dcopserver.patch

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
KDE Desktop Environment Project	Vulnerable	19-Aug-2004

References

http://www.kde.org/info/security/advisory-20040811-2.txt
http://secunia.com/advisories/12276/
http://www.securitytracker.com/alerts/2004/Aug/1010932.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/10924/info/
http://www.osvdb.org/displayvuln.php?osvdb_id=8589

Credit

This vulnerability was reported by Waldo Bastian.

This document was written by Jeff Gennari.

Other Information

Date Public:	2004-08-11
Date First Published:	2004-09-07
Date Last Updated:	2004-10-06
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2004-0690
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2004-0690
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	0.46
Document Revision:	111

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