Vulnerability Note VU#40327

OpenSSH UseLogin option allows remote execution of commands as root

Overview

Versions of OpenSSH prior to 2.1.1 (current circa June, 2000) allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of sshd, typically root.

I. Description

OpenSSH is a free implementation of versions 1 and 2 of the SSH protocol. If sshd is configured with the UseLogin option, it attempts to use login(1) to authenticate the user. However, is ssh is used to execute a command, the command is run with the privileges of sshd, typically root. UseLogin is not enabled by default.

II. Impact

Remote attackers can run arbitrary commands as root on systems with UseLogin enabled.

III. Solution

Upgrade to the latest version of OpenSSH.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
OpenSSH	Vulnerable	5-Nov-2001

References

http://www.openbsd.org/errata27.html#uselogin
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/1334
http://www.securityfocus.com/templates/archive.pike?list=1&date=2000-06-8&msg=20000609170629.A4933@folly.informatik.uni-erlangen.de
http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/k-058.shtml
http://www.securiteam.com/unixfocus/5MQ070A1QU.html
http://xforce.iss.net/alerts/vol-5_num-6.php#-openssh-uselogin-remote-exec

Credit

Our thanks to Markus Friedl who reported this information.

This document was written by Shawn V Hernan.

Other Information

Date Public:	2000-06-09
Date First Published:	2001-11-05
Date Last Updated:	2001-11-05
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CVE-2000-0525
NVD-ID(s):	CVE-2000-0525
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	31.50
Document Revision:	5

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