The default configuration in OpenAFS 1.4.x before 1.4.4 and 1.5.x before 1.5.17 supports setuid programs within the local cell, which might allow attackers to gain privileges by spoofing a response to an AFS cache manager FetchStatus request, and setting setuid and root ownership for files in the cache.

The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-200704-03 (OpenAFS: Privilege escalation)

    Benjamin Bennett discovered that the OpenAFS client contains a design     flaw where cache managers do not use authenticated server connections     when performing actions not requested by a user.
  Impact :

    If setuid is enabled on the client cells, an attacker can supply a fake     FetchStatus reply that sets setuid and root ownership of a file being     executed. This could provide root access on the client. Remote attacks     may be possible if an attacker can entice a user to execute a known     file. Note that setuid is enabled by default in versions of OpenAFS     prior to 1.4.4.
  Workaround :

    Disable the setuid functionality on all client cells. This is now the     default configuration in OpenAFS.

By default, OpenAFS prior to 1.44 and 1.5.17 supports setuid programs within the local cell, which could allow attackers to obtain privileges.

Updated packages have been patched to address this issue.

A design error has been identified in the OpenAFS, a cross-platform distributed filesystem included with Debian.

OpenAFS historically has enabled setuid filesystem support for the local cell. However, with its existing protocol, OpenAFS can only use encryption, and therefore integrity protection, if the user is authenticated. Unauthenticated access doesn't do integrity protection.
The practical result is that it's possible for an attacker with knowledge of AFS to forge an AFS FetchStatus call and make an arbitrary binary file appear to an AFS client host to be setuid. If they can then arrange for that binary to be executed, they will be able to achieve privilege escalation.

OpenAFS 1.3.81-3sarge2 changes the default behavior to disable setuid files globally, including the local cell. It is important to note that this change will not take effect until the AFS kernel module, built from the openafs-modules-source package, is rebuilt and loaded into your kernel. As a temporary workaround until the kernel module can be reloaded, setuid support can be manually disabled for the local cell by running the following command as root

fs setcell -cell <localcell> -nosuid

Following the application of this update, if you are certain there is no security risk of an attacker forging AFS fileserver responses, you can re-enable setuid status selectively with the following command, however this should not be done on sites that are visible to the Internet

fs setcell -cell <localcell> -suid

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
24936	GLSA-200704-03 : OpenAFS: Privilege escalation	Nessus	Gentoo Local Security Checks	high
24892	Mandrake Linux Security Advisory : openafs (MDKSA-2007:066)	Nessus	Mandriva Local Security Checks	high
24880	Debian DSA-1271-1 : openafs - design error	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2007-1507

high

Tenable Plugins

high

high

high