COMMAND

    linuxconf

SYSTEMS AFFECTED

    RedHat 5.1

PROBLEM

    Erik Troan  posted following.   In RedHat  5.1, linuxconf  version
    1.11r11-rh2  was  inadvertantly  setuid  root.   This  creates the
    potential for  security holes  that allow  attackers to  gain root
    access to your machine.

    Chris Evans added following.  Set environment variable "LANG" to a
    long string (about 1k should do it).  Run linuxconf.  Watch crash.
    Smile.   However, please  note that  there are  probably plenty of
    other security holes in linuxconf apart from this one.

SOLUTION

    Users  of  Red  Hat  Linux  5.0  and  earlier are NOT affected, as
    linuxconf was not included with  any previous version of Red  Hat.
    If  you  have  installed  Red  Hat  Linux 5.1, you can immediately
    remove the danger by logging in as root and running the command:

        chmod -s /bin/linuxconf

    Update to the latest version of linuxconf, linuxconf-1.11r11-rh3,
    which fixes this bug.  Red Hat Linux 5.1 for Intel and Alpha:

        rpm -Uvh ftp://ftp.redhat.com/updates/5.1/i386/linuxconf-1.11r11-rh3.i386.rpm
        rpm -Uvh ftp://ftp.redhat.com/updates/5.1/alpha/linuxconf-1.11r11-rh3.alpha.rpm