CVE-2012-3449: Low severity Openvswitch OpenvSwitch vulnerability

Published Aug 2, 2012
·
Updated

Andreas Beckmann debian reports:

openvswitch-pki creates the following world writable directories during installation:

drwx-wx-wx 2 root root 40 Aug 1 05:32 /var/lib/openvswitch/pki/controllerca/incoming drwx-wx-wx 2 root root 40 Aug 1 05:32 /var/lib/openvswitch/pki/switchca/incoming

Even if an ordinary local user cannot list the contents of the directory, he may correctly derive/guess filenames (unless they are exclusively $(mktemp)) and delete and replace files in there.

I don't know how openvswitch-pki works, how it uses this directory, what probelms could possibly arise out of this.

References: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=683665

Please note on Fedora 16 and 17 run the command:

/usr/bin/ovs-pki --force init

to create the directories.

Other sources

Open vSwitch 1.4.2 uses world writable permissions for (1) /var/lib/openvswitch/pki/controllerca/incoming/ and (2) /var/lib/openvswitch/pki/switchca/incoming/, which allows local users to delete and overwrite arbitrary files.

Affected Software

1 affected component
Openvswitch OpenvSwitch=1.4.2

Event History

Aug 2, 2012
Data Sourced
07:05 PM
DescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Aug 7, 2012
CVE Published
via MITRE·08:00 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·08:00 PM
Description
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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2012-3449?

CVE-2012-3449 is considered a moderate severity vulnerability due to the presence of world writable directories.

2

How do I fix CVE-2012-3449?

To fix CVE-2012-3449, change the permissions of the affected directories to restrict access.

3

Which versions of Open vSwitch are affected by CVE-2012-3449?

Open vSwitch version 1.4.2 is affected by CVE-2012-3449.

4

What is the impact of CVE-2012-3449?

The impact of CVE-2012-3449 allows unauthorized users to modify files in world writable directories.

5

Is there a patch available for CVE-2012-3449?

There is no specific patch for CVE-2012-3449, but users should update permissions as a workaround.

Contact

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