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ESX Server 3.0.2, Patch ESX-1004821: Security Update to Fix Local Exploitation of an Untrusted Library Path Vulnerability in vmware-authd (1004821)

Details

Release Date: 06/03/08
Document Last Updated: 06/03/08
 
5c147bedd07245c903d44257522aeba1
Product Versions
ESX Server 3.0.2
Patch Classification
Security
Supersedes
Virtual Machine Migration or Reboot Required
Yes
ESX Server Host Reboot Required
No
PRs Fixed
249942
Affected Hardware
N/A
Affected Software
Unknown
RPMs Included
VMware-esx-svrmgmt
Related CVE numbers
CVE-2008-0967

Summary

This update fixes a security issue related to local exploitation of an untrusted library path vulnerability in vmware-authd. In order to exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must have local access and the ability to execute the set-uid vmware-authd binary on an affected system. Exploitation of this flaw might result in arbitrary code execution on the Linux host system by an unprivileged user.  

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2008-0967 to this issue.

Solution

Symptoms

No symptoms are available for this issue.

Deployment Considerations

N/A

Download Instructions

Download and verify the patch bundle as follows:

1.      Download patch ESX-1004821 from http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/vi3_patches.html .
 
2.      Log in to the ESX Server service console as root.
 

3.      Create a local depot directory.

# mkdir -p /var/updates

Note: VMware recommends that you use the updates directory.

4.      Change your working directory to /var/updates.

# cd /var/updates

5.      Download the tar file into the /var/updates directory.
 
6.      Verify the integrity of the downloaded tar file:
 
# md5sum ESX-1004821.tgz

The md5 checksum output should match the following:

5c147bedd07245c903d44257522aeba1 ESX-1004821.tgz
 

7.      Extract the compressed tar archive:

# tar -xvzf ESX-1004821.tgz

8.      Change to the newly created directory, /var/updates/ESX-1004821:

# cd ESX-1004821

Installation Instructions

Note: All virtual machines on the host must be either shut down or migrated using VMotion before applying the patch.  
 

After you download and extract the archive, and if you are in the directory that you previously created, use the following command to install the update:

# esxupdate update

To run esxupdate from a different directory, you must specify the bundle path in the command:

# esxupdate -r file://<directory>/ESX-1004821 update

For example, if the host is called depot:

# esxupdate -r file:///depot/var/updates/ESX-1004821 update

During the update process, logs appear on the terminal. You can specify the verbosity of esxupdate logs by using the -v option as shown below.

# esxupdate -v 10 file://<directory>/ESX-1004821 update

For more information how to use esxupdate, see the Patch Management for ESX Server 3 tech note at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_esxupdate.pdf .

Keywords

esxpatch;esx302;alertz;urlz

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