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ESX Server 3.0.2, Patch ESX-1004824: VCB Command-Line Utilities Might Contain Passwords

Details

Release Date: 08/28/08

Document Last Updated: 08/28/08

Download Size:
2.1 MB
Download Filename:
ESX-1004824.tgz
md5sum:

c72b0132c9f5d7b4cb1b9e47748a9c5b

Product Versions	ESX Server 3.0.2
Patch Classification	Security
Supersedes	ESX-1004212
Virtual Machine Migration or Reboot Required	No
ESX Server Host Reboot Required	No
PRs Fixed	263567
Affected Hardware	N/A
Affected Software	VMware Consolidated Backup
RPMs Included	Vmware-esx-backuptools
Related CVE numbers	CVE-2008-2101

Summary

VMware Consolidated Backup command-line utilities accept the user password through the -p command-line option. Users logged into the service console can gain access to the username and password used by VCB command-line utilities when such commands are running.

This patch resolves this issue by providing an alternative way of passing the password used by VCB command-line utilities.

The following options are recommended for passing the password:

a. The password is specified in /etc/backuptools.conf (PASSWORD=xxxxx), and -p is not used in the command line.

b. No password is specified in /etc/backuptools.conf and the -p option is not used in the command line. The user will be prompted for entering the password.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2008-2101 to this issue.

Solution

Symptoms

N/A

Deployment Considerations

N/A

Download Instructions

Download and verify the patch bundle as follows:

1. Download patch ESX-1004824 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-1004824.tgz

The md5 checksum output should match the following:

c72b0132c9f5d7b4cb1b9e47748a9c5b ESX-1004824.tgz

7. Extract the compressed tar archive:

# tar -xvzf ESX-1004824.tgz

8. Change to the newly created directory, /var/updates/ESX-1004824:

# cd ESX-1004824

Installation Instructions

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-1004824 update

For example, if the host is called depot:

# esxupdate -r file:///depot/var/updates/ESX-1004824 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-1004824 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

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KB Article: 1004824
Updated: Aug 14, 2009

Products:
VMware ESX
Product Versions:
VMware ESX 3.0.x

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