An updated sysstat package that fixes one security issue, various bugs, and adds one enhancement is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having low security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in the References section.

The sysstat package contains a set of utilities which enable system monitoring of disks, network, and other I/O activity.

It was found that the sysstat initscript created a temporary file in an insecure way. A local attacker could use this flaw to create arbitrary files via a symbolic link attack. (CVE-2007-3852)

This update fixes the following bugs :

* On systems under heavy load, the sadc utility would sometimes output the following error message if a write() call was unable to write all of the requested input :

'Cannot write data to system activity file: Success.'

In this updated package, the sadc utility tries to write the remaining input, resolving this issue. (BZ#454617)

* On the Itanium architecture, the 'sar -I' command provided incorrect information about the interrupt statistics of the system. With this update, the 'sar -I' command has been disabled for this architecture, preventing this bug. (BZ#468340)

* Previously, the 'iostat -n' command used invalid data to create statistics for read and write operations. With this update, the data source for these statistics has been fixed, and the iostat utility now returns correct information. (BZ#484439)

* The 'sar -d' command used to output invalid data about block devices. With this update, the sar utility recognizes disk registration and disk overflow statistics properly, and only correct and relevant data is now displayed. (BZ#517490)

* Previously, the sar utility set the maximum number of days to be logged in one month too high. Consequently, data from a month was appended to data from the preceding month. With this update, the maximum number of days has been set to 25, and data from a month now correctly replaces data from the preceding month. (BZ#578929)

* In previous versions of the iostat utility, the number of NFS mount points was hard-coded. Consequently, various issues occurred while iostat was running and NFS mount points were mounted or unmounted;
certain values in iostat reports overflowed and some mount points were not reported at all. With this update, iostat properly recognizes when an NFS mount point mounts or unmounts, fixing these issues.
(BZ#675058, BZ#706095, BZ#694767)

* When a device name was longer than 13 characters, the iostat utility printed a redundant new line character, making its output less readable. This bug has been fixed and now, no extra characters are printed if a long device name occurs in iostat output. (BZ#604637)

* Previously, if kernel interrupt counters overflowed, the sar utility provided confusing output. This bug has been fixed and the sum of interrupts is now reported correctly. (BZ#622557)

* When some processors were disabled on a multi-processor system, the sar utility sometimes failed to provide information about the CPU activity. With this update, the uptime of a single processor is used to compute the statistics, rather than the total uptime of all processors, and this bug no longer occurs. (BZ#630559)

* Previously, the mpstat utility wrongly interpreted data about processors in the system. Consequently, it reported a processor that did not exist. This bug has been fixed and non-existent CPUs are no longer reported by mpstat. (BZ#579409)

* Previously, there was no easy way to enable the collection of statistics about disks and interrupts. Now, the SADC_OPTIONS variable can be used to set parameters for the sadc utility, fixing this bug.
(BZ#598794)

* The read_uptime() function failed to close its open file upon exit.
A patch has been provided to fix this bug. (BZ#696672)

This update also adds the following enhancement :

* With this update, the cifsiostat utility has been added to the sysstat package to provide CIFS (Common Internet File System) mount point I/O statistics. (BZ#591530)

All sysstat users are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which contains backported patches to correct these issues and add this enhancement.

- Mon Aug 20 2007 Ivana Varekova <varekova at redhat.com>
    - 7.0.4-3

    - fix CVE-2007-3852 - sysstat insecure temporary file       usage

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.

The sysstat package contains a set of utilities which enable system monitoring of disks, network, and other I/O activity.

It was found that the sysstat initscript created a temporary file in an insecure way. A local attacker could use this flaw to create arbitrary files via a symbolic link attack. (CVE-2007-3852)

This update fixes the following bugs :

  - On systems under heavy load, the sadc utility would     sometimes output the following error message if a     write() call was unable to write all of the requested     input :

'Cannot write data to system activity file: Success.'

In this updated package, the sadc utility tries to write the remaining input, resolving this issue.

  - On the Itanium architecture, the 'sar -I' command     provided incorrect information about the interrupt     statistics of the system. With this update, the 'sar -I'     command has been disabled for this architecture,     preventing this bug.

  - Previously, the 'iostat -n' command used invalid data to     create statistics for read and write operations. With     this update, the data source for these statistics has     been fixed, and the iostat utility now returns correct     information.

  - The 'sar -d' command used to output invalid data about     block devices. With this update, the sar utility     recognizes disk registration and disk overflow     statistics properly, and only correct and relevant data     is now displayed.

  - Previously, the sar utility set the maximum number of     days to be logged in one month too high. Consequently,     data from a month was appended to data from the     preceding month. With this update, the maximum number of     days has been set to 25, and data from a month now     correctly replaces data from the preceding month.

  - In previous versions of the iostat utility, the number     of NFS mount points was hard-coded. Consequently,     various issues occurred while iostat was running and NFS     mount points were mounted or unmounted; certain values     in iostat reports overflowed and some mount points were     not reported at all. With this update, iostat properly     recognizes when an NFS mount point mounts or unmounts,     fixing these issues.

  - When a device name was longer than 13 characters, the     iostat utility printed a redundant new line character,     making its output less readable. This bug has been fixed     and now, no extra characters are printed if a long     device name occurs in iostat output.

  - Previously, if kernel interrupt counters overflowed, the     sar utility provided confusing output. This bug has been     fixed and the sum of interrupts is now reported     correctly.

  - When some processors were disabled on a multi-processor     system, the sar utility sometimes failed to provide     information about the CPU activity. With this update,     the uptime of a single processor is used to compute the     statistics, rather than the total uptime of all     processors, and this bug no longer occurs.

  - Previously, the mpstat utility wrongly interpreted data     about processors in the system. Consequently, it     reported a processor that did not exist. This bug has     been fixed and non-existent CPUs are no longer reported     by mpstat.

  - Previously, there was no easy way to enable the     collection of statistics about disks and interrupts.
    Now, the SADC_OPTIONS variable can be used to set     parameters for the sadc utility, fixing this bug.

  - The read_uptime() function failed to close its open file     upon exit. A patch has been provided to fix this bug.

This update also adds the following enhancement :

  - With this update, the cifsiostat utility has been added     to the sysstat package to provide CIFS (Common Internet     File System) mount point I/O statistics.

All sysstat users are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which contains backported patches to correct these issues and add this enhancement.

The remote Oracle Linux 5 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ELSA-2011-1005 advisory.

  - The init script (sysstat.in) in sysstat 5.1.2 up to 7.1.6 creates /tmp/sysstat.run insecurely, which     allows local users to execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2007-3852)

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

The remote Redhat Enterprise Linux 5 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the RHSA-2011:1005 advisory.

  - sysstat insecure temporary file usage (CVE-2007-3852)

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

ID	Name	Product	Family	Published	Updated	Severity
56263	CentOS 5 : sysstat (CESA-2011:1005)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	9/23/2011	1/4/2021	medium
27727	Fedora 7 : sysstat-7.0.4-3.fc7 (2007-1697)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	11/6/2007	1/11/2021	medium
61095	Scientific Linux Security Update : sysstat on SL5.x i386/x86_64	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	8/1/2012	1/14/2021	medium
181121	Oracle Linux 5 : sysstat (ELSA-2011-1005)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	9/7/2023	9/7/2023	high
55644	RHEL 5 : sysstat (RHSA-2011:1005)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	7/22/2011	4/21/2024	high

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