Escalate a Ubunutu User To Root in Breezy
Posted on March 13, 2006
Filed Under /dev/null/ | 63 views |
Evidently the Ubuntu Breezy Badger installer doesn’t properly clean up its log files after installation thus leaving the root password in cleartext in a file any user on the system can read. As a result of this, any user on a Breezy system can escalate themselves to root. Not a big deal if you’re using Ubuntu as your personal machine and you only have your own account but this is a huge deal in a multi-user environment.
IMO there are actually three things wrong here: 1. the log file is not cleaned up after installation. 2. that any password is stored in a file readable by all users, 3. that the root password is stored in a log file at all.
Fortunately there’s already a patch available. You should probably update your Breezy Badger (5.10) install now as this vulnerability has since made the front page of /. and digg.
Comments
Leave a Reply