Title: XFree86 xauth Race Condition Vulnerability
Severity: MODERATE
Description:
A possible race condition vulnerability exists in the xauth program, used to edit and display the authorization information used in connecting to the X server.
The error occurs when xauth writes temporary authorization files. The program first unlinks the target filename from the filesystem and then opens it as a new file, without performing any error checking.
As a result, it may be possible for a malicious local user to symbolically link this temporary file to any file owned by the user running xauth. This may allow sensitive data to be overwritten, in some situations leading to a denial of service or enabling system compromise if the user can control the file contents.
Affected Products:
- Debian Linux 2.2.0
- RedHat Linux 6.2.0
- RedHat Linux 7.0.0
- RedHat Linux 7.1.0
- XFree86 X11R6 3.3.6
- XFree86 X11R6 4.0.0
- XFree86 X11R6 4.0.1
- XFree86 X11R6 4.0.3
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