Denial of service in open-vm-tools for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

1) UNIX symbolic link following

EUVDB-ID: #VU76017

Risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 1.1 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2014-4199

CWE-ID: CWE-61 - UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to a symlink following issue. A local user can create a specially crafted symbolic link to a file in the "/tmp" folder and overwrite it, causing a denial of service condition.

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support: 7.5 - 7.7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node: 7.3 - 7.7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI: 7.0

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS: 7.3 - 7.7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS: 7.3 - 7.7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing: 7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop: 7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation: 7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server: 7

open-vm-tools (Red Hat package): before 9.10.2-4.el7

CPE2.3

• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_for_x86_64_-_extended_update_support:7.5:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_for_x86_64_-_extended_update_support:7.6:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_for_x86_64_-_extended_update_support:7.7:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_eus_compute_node:7.3:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_eus_compute_node:7.4:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_eus_compute_node:7.5:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_server_from_rhui:7.0:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_server_-_tus:7.3:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_server_-_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_server_-_tus:7.7:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_server_-_aus:7.3:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_for_scientific_computing:7:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_desktop:7:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_workstation:7:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_server:7:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:red_hat:open-vm-tools_redhat_package:*:*:*:*:*:red_hat_enterprise_linux:*:*

External links

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2015:2246

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.