CVE-2012-3440 Path traversal in n/a

Medium 5.6 Published 8 Aug 2012 Updated 6 Aug 2024

Local attackers can overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a temporary file in a Red Hat sudo script.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2012-3440?

CVE-2012-3440 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 8 Aug 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A certain Red Hat script for sudo 1.7.2 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the /var/tmp/nsswitch.conf.bak temporary file.

Weakness: CWE-59

Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-3440?

It affects 2 products.

Linux distribution packages (4)

`sudo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:1.7.2p1-14.el5_8.2`
`sudo-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:1.7.2p1-14.el5_8.2`
`sudo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:1.7.2p1-14.el5_8.2`
`sudo-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:1.7.2p1-14.el5_8.2`

Products include Redhat Enterprise Linux, Todd Miller Sudo.

How do I fix CVE-2012-3440?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2012-3440 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-3440 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Redhat Enterprise Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-f2xg-m95q-882q, RHSA-2012:1149.