Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched

General off-topic, anything goes discussions.
Post Reply
crashtech
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1544
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 4:45 pm
Location: Idaho, USA

Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched

Post by crashtech »

https://www.zdnet.com/article/nasty-lin ... d-patched/

Anyone heard about this? I would guess that DC hosts aren't likely to be vulnerable.
Skillz
Site Admin
Reactions:
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 3:03 pm

Re: Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched

Post by Skillz »

Shit, I need to update the site server. No laptop so it'll have to wait till I get home.
StefanR5R
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1661
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:32 pm

Re: Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched

Post by StefanR5R »

Debian:
unstable (sid) and testing (bullseye) were affected
10 (buster) and 9 (stretch) are not affected

Ubuntu:
21.04, 20.10, 20.04 were affected
18.04, 16.04, 14.04 are not affected

Red Hat:
Fedora, RHEL 8.2, 8.1, 8 were affected
crashtech wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 7:56 pm I would guess that DC hosts aren't likely to be vulnerable.
A scientific application which you downloaded e.g. via boinc, then execute as an unprivileged user such as the boinc user, could elevate its privileges to root if it contained respective malicious code.
Skillz
Site Admin
Reactions:
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 3:03 pm

Re: Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched

Post by Skillz »

Debian 10 isn't affected? Then no worries here since we're running 10.9 on the server.
StefanR5R
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1661
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:32 pm

Re: Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched

Post by StefanR5R »

Debian 10 hosts should have polkit 0.105-25 installed. Debian introduced the upstream bug via a backport into 0.105-26. That's why only unstable and testing were affected. (They are now fixed with polkit 0.105-31. Which you don't need if you have 0.105-25 or older.)
crashtech
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1544
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 4:45 pm
Location: Idaho, USA

Re: Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched

Post by crashtech »

I can't figure out how to implement the fix, nor even how to get meaningful version info out of my hosts. pkcheck --version returns only "0.105".
crashtech
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1544
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 4:45 pm
Location: Idaho, USA

Re: Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched

Post by crashtech »

Here's a download page for polkit:

https://www.freedesktop.org/software/polkit/releases/

Now I need to figure out how to "make" it go.
User avatar
biodoc
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1014
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 3:22 pm
Location: Massachusetts, USA

Re: Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched

Post by biodoc »

It appears to me it's already been fixed with a patch on my systems.

Code: Select all

policykit-1 (0.105-26ubuntu1.1) focal-security; urgency=medium

  * SECURITY UPDATE: local privilege escalation using
    polkit_system_bus_name_get_creds_sync()
    - debian/patches/CVE-2021-3560.patch: use proper return code in
      src/polkit/polkitsystembusname.c.
    - CVE-2021-3560

 -- Marc Deslauriers <marc.deslauriers@ubuntu.com>  Wed, 26 May 2021 07:50:16 -0400
Open up synaptic package manager, search for polkit and then get changelog for the package you are interested in checking.
crashtech
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1544
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 4:45 pm
Location: Idaho, USA

Re: Nasty Linux systemd root level security bug revealed and patched

Post by crashtech »

Thanks, biodoc! I went ahead and updated all my rigs after the PrimeGrid challenge ended, and it looks to me like the patch was included in those updates. Seems there should be a quick and easy way to get the pertinent info from a command prompt, though.
Post Reply