Ubuntu 5.10 / 6.06 LTS : gdm vulnerability (USN-293-1)

low Nessus Plugin ID 27865

Synopsis

The remote Ubuntu host is missing a security-related patch.

Description

If the admin configured a gdm theme that provided an user list, any user could activate the gdm setup program by first choosing the setup option from the menu, clicking on the user list and entering his own (instead of root's) password. This allowed normal users to configure potentially dangerous features like remote or automatic login.

Please note that this does not affect a default Ubuntu installation, since the default theme does not provide an user list. In Ubuntu 6.06 you additionally have to have the 'ConfigAvailable' setting enabled in gdm.conf to be vulnerable (it is disabled by default).

Ubuntu 5.04 is not affected by this flaw.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

Solution

Update the affected gdm package.

See Also

https://usn.ubuntu.com/293-1/

Plugin Details

Severity: Low

ID: 27865

File Name: ubuntu_USN-293-1.nasl

Version: 1.15

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 11/10/2007

Updated: 1/19/2021

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.5

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Low

Base Score: 3.7

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:gdm, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:5.10, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:6.06:-:lts

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/Debian/dpkg-l, Host/Ubuntu, Host/Ubuntu/release

Patch Publication Date: 6/9/2006

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2006-2452

USN: 293-1