Vulnerability Note VU#527736

mkpasswd uses weak random number generator

Overview

Mkpasswd generates passwords that are insufficiently random.

I. Description

Mkpasswd is a password generation utility included with Red Hat Linux and possibly other Linux distributions. Mkpasswd generates passwords that are not sufficiently random, which may allow an attacker to predict passwords and consequently gain unauthorized access to other accounts on the system. This vulnerability occurs because mkpasswd uses the current process ID as the seed for the random number generator. Because of this, the number of passwords is limited to the size of the process table on the operating system.

II. Impact

An attacker may be able to predict passwords and consequently gain unauthorized access to other accounts on the system.

III. Solution

Apply a patch from your vendor.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified
Apple Computer Inc.	Not Vulnerable	3-Apr-2003
Foundry Networks Inc.	Not Vulnerable	4-Apr-2003
Fujitsu	Not Vulnerable	10-Apr-2003
Hewlett-Packard Company	Not Vulnerable	3-Apr-2003
Hitachi	Not Vulnerable	11-Apr-2003
Red Hat Inc.	Vulnerable	2-Apr-2003

References

http://www.securitytracker.com/alerts/2001/Apr/1001303.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/2632
http://xforce.iss.net/static/6382.php

Credit

This vulnerability was reported by Shez <shez@molions.com>.

This document was written by Ian A. Finlay.

Other Information

Date Public:	2001-04-11
Date First Published:	2003-04-02
Date Last Updated:	2003-04-11
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):
NVD-ID(s):
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Severity Metric:	7.03
Document Revision:	19

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.