Detections
Analytics

Debian DSA-279-1 : metrics - insecure temporary file creation

medium Nessus Plugin ID 15116

Synopsis

The remote Debian host is missing a security-related update.

Description

Paul Szabo and Matt Zimmerman discovered two similar problems in metrics, a tools for software metrics. Two scripts in this package, 'halstead' and 'gather_stats', open temporary files without taking appropriate security precautions. 'halstead' is installed as a user program, while 'gather_stats' is only used in an auxiliary script included in the source code. These vulnerabilities could allow a local attacker to overwrite files owned by the user running the scripts, including root.

Solution

Upgrade the metrics package.

The stable distribution (woody) is not affected since it doesn't contain a metrics package anymore.

For the old stable distribution (potato) this problem has been fixed in version 1.0-1.1.

See Also

http://www.debian.org/security/2003/dsa-279

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 15116

File Name: debian_DSA-279.nasl

Version: 1.21

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 9/29/2004

Updated: 1/4/2021

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.6

Temporal Score: 3.4

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:metrics, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:2.2

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

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 4/7/2003

Vulnerability Publication Date: 4/7/2003

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2003-0202

BID: 7293

DSA: 279