CVE-2013-4169 Path traversal in n/a

Medium 6.9 Published 10 Sep 2013 Updated 16 Sep 2024

Local attackers can exploit a symlink vulnerability in GNOME Display Manager to change permissions of arbitrary directories, potentially leading to privilege escalation.

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-2013-4169?

CVE-2013-4169 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 10 Sep 2013. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

GNOME Display Manager (gdm) before 2.21.1 allows local users to change permissions of arbitrary directories via a symlink attack on /tmp/.X11-unix/.

Weakness: CWE-59

Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-4169?

It affects 1 product.

Linux distribution packages (5)

`gdm` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`1:2.16.0-59.el5_9.1`
`gdm-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`1:2.16.0-59.el5_9.1`
`gdm-docs` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`1:2.16.0-59.el5_9.1`
`initscripts` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:8.45.42-2.el5_9.1`
`initscripts-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:8.45.42-2.el5_9.1`

Products include Gnome Gnome Display Manager.

How do I fix CVE-2013-4169?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

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

Is CVE-2013-4169 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-4169 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-j642-2qgg-v4wq, RHSA-2013:1213.