Updated setroubleshoot packages that fix two security issues and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

The setroubleshoot packages provide tools to help diagnose SELinux problems. When AVC messages occur, an alert is generated that gives information about the problem, and how to create a resolution.

A flaw was found in the way sealert wrote diagnostic messages to a temporary file. A local unprivileged user could perform a symbolic link attack, and cause arbitrary files, writable by other users, to be overwritten when a victim runs sealert. (CVE-2007-5495)

A flaw was found in the way sealert displayed records from the setroubleshoot database as unescaped HTML. An local unprivileged attacker could cause AVC denial events with carefully crafted process or file names, injecting arbitrary HTML tags into the logs, which could be used as a scripting attack, or to confuse the user running sealert. (CVE-2007-5496)

Additionally, the following bugs have been fixed in these update packages :

* in certain situations, the sealert process used excessive CPU. These alerts are now capped at a maximum of 30, D-Bus is used instead of polling, threads causing excessive wake-up have been removed, and more robust exception-handling has been added.

* different combinations of the sealert '-a', '-l', '-H', and '-v' options did not work as documented.

* the SETroubleShoot browser did not allow multiple entries to be deleted.

* the SETroubleShoot browser did not display statements that displayed whether SELinux was using Enforcing or Permissive mode, particularly when warning about SELinux preventions.

* in certain cases, the SETroubleShoot browser gave incorrect instructions regarding paths, and would not display the full paths to files.

* adding an email recipient to the recipients option from the /etc/setroubleshoot/setroubleshoot.cfg file and then generating an SELinux denial caused a traceback error. The recipients option has been removed; email addresses are now managed through the SETroubleShoot browser by navigating to File -> Edit Email Alert List, or by editing the /var/lib/setroubleshoot/email_alert_recipients file.

* the setroubleshoot browser incorrectly displayed a period between the httpd_sys_content_t context and the directory path.

* on the PowerPC architecture, The get_credentials() function in access_control.py would generate an exception when it called the socket.getsockopt() function.

* The code which handles path information has been completely rewritten so that assumptions on path information which were misleading are no longer made. If the path information is not present, it will be presented as '<Unknown>'.

* setroubleshoot had problems with non-English locales under certain circumstances, possibly causing a python traceback, an sealert window pop-up containing an error, a 'RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded' error after a traceback, or a 'UnicodeEncodeError' after a traceback.

* sealert ran even when SELinux was disabled, causing 'attempt to open server connection failed' errors. Sealert now checks whether SELinux is enabled or disabled.

* the database setroubleshoot maintains was world-readable. The setroubleshoot database is now mode 600, and is owned by the root user and group.

* setroubleshoot did not validate requests to set AVC filtering options for users. In these updated packages, checks ensure that requests originate from the filter owner.

* the previous setroubleshoot packages required a number of GNOME packages and libraries. setroubleshoot has therefore been split into 2 packages: setroubleshoot and setroubleshoot-server.

* a bug in decoding the audit field caused an 'Input is not proper UTF-8, indicate encoding!' error message. The decoding code has been rewritten.

* a file name mismatch in the setroubleshoot init script would cause a failure to shut down.

Users of setroubleshoot are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which resolve these issues.

A flaw was found in the way sealert wrote diagnostic messages to a temporary file. A local unprivileged user could perform a symbolic link attack, and cause arbitrary files, writable by other users, to be overwritten when a victim runs sealert. (CVE-2007-5495)

A flaw was found in the way sealert displayed records from the setroubleshoot database as unescaped HTML. An local unprivileged attacker could cause AVC denial events with carefully crafted process or file names, injecting arbitrary HTML tags into the logs, which could be used as a scripting attack, or to confuse the user running sealert. (CVE-2007-5496)

Additionally, the following bugs have been fixed in these update packages :

  - in certain situations, the sealert process used     excessive CPU. These alerts are now capped at a maximum     of 30, D-Bus is used instead of polling, threads causing     excessive wake-up have been removed, and more robust     exception-handling has been added.

  - different combinations of the sealert '-a', '-l', '-H',     and '-v' options did not work as documented.

  - the SETroubleShoot browser did not allow multiple     entries to be deleted.

  - the SETroubleShoot browser did not display statements     that displayed whether SELinux was using Enforcing or     Permissive mode, particularly when warning about SELinux     preventions.

  - in certain cases, the SETroubleShoot browser gave     incorrect instructions regarding paths, and would not     display the full paths to files.

  - adding an email recipient to the recipients option from     the /etc/setroubleshoot/setroubleshoot.cfg file and then     generating an SELinux denial caused a traceback error.
    The recipients option has been removed; email addresses     are now managed through the SETroubleShoot browser by     navigating to File -> Edit Email Alert List, or by     editing the     /var/lib/setroubleshoot/email_alert_recipients file.

  - the setroubleshoot browser incorrectly displayed a     period between the httpd_sys_content_t context and the     directory path.

  - on the PowerPC architecture, The get_credentials()     function in access_control.py would generate an     exception when it called the socket.getsockopt()     function.

  - The code which handles path information has been     completely rewritten so that assumptions on path     information which were misleading are no longer made. If     the path information is not present, it will be     presented as '<Unknown>'.

  - setroubleshoot had problems with non-English locales     under certain circumstances, possibly causing a python     traceback, an sealert window pop-up containing an error,     a 'RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded' error     after a traceback, or a 'UnicodeEncodeError' after a     traceback.

  - sealert ran even when SELinux was disabled, causing     'attempt to open server connection failed' errors.
    Sealert now checks whether SELinux is enabled or     disabled.

  - the database setroubleshoot maintains was     world-readable. The setroubleshoot database is now mode     600, and is owned by the root user and group.

  - setroubleshoot did not validate requests to set AVC     filtering options for users. In these updated packages,     checks ensure that requests originate from the filter     owner.

  - the previous setroubleshoot packages required a number     of GNOME packages and libraries. setroubleshoot has     therefore been split into 2 packages: setroubleshoot and     setroubleshoot-server.

  - a bug in decoding the audit field caused an 'Input is     not proper UTF-8, indicate encoding!' error message. The     decoding code has been rewritten.

  - a file name mismatch in the setroubleshoot init script     would cause a failure to shut down.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Published	Updated	Severity
32419	RHEL 5 : setroubleshoot (RHSA-2008:0061)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	5/22/2008	1/14/2021	medium
180621	Oracle Linux 5 : setroubleshoot (ELSA-2008-0061)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	9/7/2023	11/1/2024	medium
60408	Scientific Linux Security Update : setroubleshoot on SL5.x i386/x86_64	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	8/1/2012	1/14/2021	medium

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