6.9 - RHSA-2007:1128

Problem Description:

Updated autofs packages are now available to fix a security flaw for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

This update has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

2. Relevant releases/architectures:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) - i386, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) - i386, ia64, ppc, s390x, x86_64

3. Problem description:

The autofs utility controls the operation of the automount daemon, which automatically mounts and unmounts file systems after a period of inactivity.

There was a security issue with the default installed configuration of autofs version 5 whereby the entry for the "hosts" map did not specify the "nosuid" mount option. A local user with control of a remote nfs server could create a setuid root executable within an exported filesystem on the remote nfs server that, if mounted using the default hosts map, would allow the user to gain root privileges. (CVE-2007-5964)

Due to the fact that autofs always mounted hosts map entries suid by default, autofs has now been altered to always use the "nosuid" option when mounting from the default hosts map. The "suid" option must be explicitly given in the master map entry to revert to the old behavior. This change affects only the hosts map which corresponds to the /net entry in the default configuration.

Users are advised to upgrade to these updated autofs packages, which resolve this issue.

Red Hat would like to thank Josh Lange for reporting this issue.

4. Solution:

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_58_10188

5. Bug IDs fixed (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/):

410031 - CVE-2007-5964 autofs defaults don't restrict suid in /net