Oval Definition:oval:com.redhat.rhsa:def:20071176
Revision Date:2007-12-20Version:640
Title:RHSA-2007:1176: autofs security update (Important)
Description:The autofs utility controls the operation of the automount daemon, which automatically mounts file systems when you use them, and unmounts them when you are not using them. This can include network file systems and CD-ROMs.

  • There was a security issue with the default configuration of autofs version 5, whereby the entry for the "-hosts" map did not specify the "nodev" mount option. A local user with control of a remote NFS server could create special device files on the remote file system, that if mounted using the default "-hosts" map, could allow the user to access important system devices. (CVE-2007-6285)

    This issue is similar to CVE-2007-5964, which fixed a missing "nosuid" mount option in autofs. Both the "nodev" and "nosuid" options should be enabled to prevent a possible compromise of machine integrity.

    Due to the fact that autofs always mounted "-hosts" map entries "dev" by default, autofs has now been altered to always use the "nodev" option when mounting from the default "-hosts" map. The "dev" 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.

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

    Red Hat would like to thank Tim Baum for reporting this issue.
  • Family:unixClass:patch
    Status:Reference(s):CVE-2007-6285
    RHSA-2007:1176
    RHSA-2007:1176-01
    RHSA-2007:1176-01
    Platform(s):Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
    Product(s):
    Definition Synopsis
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux must be installed
  • OR Package Information
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 is installed
  • AND autofs is earlier than 1:5.0.1-0.rc2.55.el5.2
  • AND autofs is signed with Red Hat redhatrelease2 key
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