The (1) contrib/eqn2graph/eqn2graph.sh, (2) contrib/grap2graph/grap2graph.sh, and (3) contrib/pic2graph/pic2graph.sh scripts in GNU troff (aka groff) 1.21 and earlier do not properly handle certain failed attempts to create temporary directories, which might allow local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a file in a temporary directory, a different vulnerability than CVE-2004-1296.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - The (1) contrib/eqn2graph/eqn2graph.sh, (2) contrib/grap2graph/grap2graph.sh, and (3)     contrib/pic2graph/pic2graph.sh scripts in GNU troff (aka groff) 1.21 and earlier do not properly handle     certain failed attempts to create temporary directories, which might allow local users to overwrite     arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a file in a temporary directory, a different vulnerability than     CVE-2004-1296. (CVE-2009-5080)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

The remote NewStart CGSL host, running version MAIN 5.04, has groff packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities:

  - contrib/pdfmark/pdfroff.sh in GNU troff (aka groff) before 1.21 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary     files via a symlink attack on a pdf#####.tmp temporary file. (CVE-2009-5044)

  - The (1) contrib/eqn2graph/eqn2graph.sh, (2) contrib/grap2graph/grap2graph.sh, and (3)     contrib/pic2graph/pic2graph.sh scripts in GNU troff (aka groff) 1.21 and earlier do not properly handle     certain failed attempts to create temporary directories, which might allow local users to overwrite     arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a file in a temporary directory, a different vulnerability than     CVE-2004-1296. (CVE-2009-5080)

  - The (1) config.guess, (2) contrib/groffer/perl/groffer.pl, and (3) contrib/groffer/perl/roff2.pl scripts     in GNU troff (aka groff) 1.21 and earlier use an insufficient number of X characters in the template     argument to the tempfile function, which makes it easier for local users to overwrite arbitrary files via     a symlink attack on a temporary file, a different vulnerability than CVE-2004-0969. (CVE-2009-5081)

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-201310-14 (Groff: Multiple Vulnerabilities)

    Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Groff. Please review       the CVE identifiers referenced below for details.
  Impact :

    A context-dependent attacker could perform symlink attacks to overwrite       arbitrary files with the privileges of the user running the application.
  Workaround :

    There is no known workaround at this time.

Multiple vulnerabilities has been found and corrected in groff :

contrib/pdfmark/pdfroff.sh in GNU troff (aka groff) before 1.21 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a pdf#####.tmp temporary file (CVE-2009-5044).

The (1) gendef.sh, (2) doc/fixinfo.sh, and (3) contrib/gdiffmk/tests/runtests.in scripts in GNU troff (aka groff) 1.21 and earlier allow local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a gro#####.tmp or /tmp/##### temporary file (CVE-2009-5079).

The (1) contrib/eqn2graph/eqn2graph.sh, (2) contrib/grap2graph/grap2graph.sh, and (3) contrib/pic2graph/pic2graph.sh scripts in GNU troff (aka groff) 1.21 and earlier do not properly handle certain failed attempts to create temporary directories, which might allow local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a file in a temporary directory, a different vulnerability than CVE-2004-1296 (CVE-2009-5080).

The (1) config.guess, (2) contrib/groffer/perl/groffer.pl, and (3) contrib/groffer/perl/roff2.pl scripts in GNU troff (aka groff) 1.21 and earlier use an insufficient number of X characters in the template argument to the tempfile function, which makes it easier for local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a temporary file, a different vulnerability than CVE-2004-0969 (CVE-2009-5081).

The updated packages have been patched to correct these issues.

older security fixes :

  - CVE-2009-5044: insecure temporary file handling in     pdfroff

    - CVE-2009-5080: improper handling of failed attempts to       create temporary directories in       eqn2graph/pic2graph/grap2graph

    - CVE-2009-5081: roff2.pl and groffer.pl use       easy-to-guess temporary file names

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

older security fixes

  - CVE-2009-5044: insecure temporary file handling in     pdfroff

    - CVE-2009-5080: improper handling of failed attempts to       create temporary directories in       eqn2graph/pic2graph/grap2graph

    - CVE-2009-5081: roff2.pl and groffer.pl use       easy-to-guess temporary file names

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

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
217165	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2009-5080	Nessus	Misc.	medium
187343	NewStart CGSL MAIN 5.04 : groff Multiple Vulnerabilities (NS-SA-2023-0067)	Nessus	NewStart CGSL Local Security Checks	medium
70649	GLSA-201310-14 : Groff: Multiple Vulnerabilities	Nessus	Gentoo Local Security Checks	medium
66099	Mandriva Linux Security Advisory : groff (MDVSA-2013:086)	Nessus	Mandriva Local Security Checks	low
59419	Fedora 16 : groff-1.21-4.fc16 (2012-8596)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	low
59417	Fedora 15 : groff-1.21-4.fc15 (2012-8590)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	low
59416	Fedora 17 : groff-1.21-9.fc17 (2012-8577)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	low

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2009-5080

medium

Tenable Plugins

medium

medium

medium

low

low

low

low