COMMAND
bigconf.cgi
SYSTEMS AFFECTED
BigIP - bigconf.cgi users
PROBLEM
Guy Cohen found following. For those of you who don't know what
is BigIP, it is a software developed by F5 labs to handle incoming
traffic and redirect it to a server with in a group of servers.
It is installed on BSDI system (maybe other too). Once it is has
been installed you can configure it either by using a command line
or by using the html interface (http server comes with the
software).
The html interface basicly operates one program, bigconf.cgi,
witch is installed suid root. Guy has not spend much time
learning how to exploit this program, but from the bits he did,
he was able to look at _any_ file on the system simply by giving
it's name to the cgi program (with appropriate parameters of
course). The risk here is not from the outside, as the http
server is protected by a password, but from internal users. Less
risk, but still ...
SOLUTION
Guy is discussing an issue that affects older versions of BIG/ip.
As he points out, the risk is from internal users. In older
versions of BIG/ip, there is effectively only one user and that
user has root privileges. That user could execute commands as
root through a shell escape in our web-based user interface. As
of Version 2.1, this is no longer possible. The current version
of BIG/ip is 2.1.2. Unfortunately this effects version 2.1.2 too.
So, to be 100% secure, get a patch version 2.1.2 PTF-02.