SYM08-018
20 October, 2008

Veritas File System Quick I/O for Database Utility Information Disclosure and Elevation of Privilege

None

Medium

 

Access	Requirements
Remote Access	NO
Local Access	YES
Authentication Required	YES
Exploit publicly available	Not Required

Overview
A potential for sensitive information to be disclosed has been identified and resolved in the Quick I/O for Database feature of Veritas File System (VxFS).  Quick I/O for Database is a mechanism allowing fast concurrent access to improve performance.


 

Product	Version	Platform	Solution(s)
Veritas File System (VxFS)	All Supported	Solaris, Linux, AIX	5.0 MP3
Veritas File System (VxFS)	All Supported	HP-UX -Pending	Refer to "Recommended Workarounds" below

Details
Security Objectives notified Symantec of the potential for unauthorized information disclosure in the Quick I/O for Database feature in VxFS.

The first issue is the exposure of uninitialized file system blocks (which may contain sensitive information) by the qiomkfile command. The qiomkfile command allocates file system blocks to a new file without initializing those blocks, so the contents of the blocks becomes readable by any user that can read the new file.  This is intended to be a performance optimization for databases, but if those blocks formerly belonged to a file containing sensitive information, then that information can be accessed via the new file that now owns the blocks.  The VxFS operation performing this allocation without initialization is restricted to privileged users, but the qiomkfile command is set-uid root so non-privileged but authorized users could potentially circumvent the security restriction on the allocation operation by using this command.

A second issue is an unauthorized file content disclosure in the qioadmin utility for the Quick I/O for Database feature. A user with authorized system access and sufficient privileges to run the qioadmin utility can supply any filename of a file on the system to qioadmin and redirect the file content to standard error.  The qioadmin utility is set-uid root which could allow non-privileged but authorized users to circumvent system file permission restrictions to gain access to privileged system information.

In Symantec's recommended installation an affected system should have limited or no exposure to the general internal network and no exposure outside of the corporate network which greatly reduces the risk of unauthorized access.

Symantec Engineers have verified and resolved these issues in all currently supported versions of VxFS.

Symantec recommends customers apply the latest product update available for their supported product versions to enhance their security posture and protect against potential security threats of this nature.

The formal resolution to this issue is included in 5.0 Maintenance Pack 3 and is available at:    https://fileconnect.symantec.com . If you need help with access to the download file, clic  on "Contact Customer Service".

If you cannot apply the formal resolution, Symantec strongly recommends applying one of the Workarounds listed in the next section of this document.

Symantec knows of no exploitation of or adverse customer impact from this issue.  

If a customer is unable to or chooses not to apply the recommended update at this time, the following workarounds are applicable:

The workaround for the qioadmin file disclosure issue is to remove the set-uid flag for qioadmin using the following command:  

The workarounds for the  qiomkfile uninitialized file system block issue are as follows:

1.  To only allow root users to execute this utility remove the set-uid flag for qiomkfile with the following command:

2.  To retain set-uid root for qiomkfile but restrict group execute permissions to some particular UNIX group, e.g., "oracledba, use the following commands:

Under this workaround, Users in the "oracledba" group will still be able to run qiomkfile effectively, but users that aren't in the "oracledba" group will not be able to use qiomkfile.

NOTE:  Since the blocks in the files that qiomkfile creates will still be uninitialized, those files should have permissions such that only trusted users will be able to access them.

3. Turn off the flag for qiomkfile (as in workaround 1 above) and use a utility like "sudo" to give individual users or groups permission to execute qiomkfile as root.  this is similar to workaround 2, but the access control mechanism of sudo is more flexible than that of UNIX permissions.

As part of normal best practices, Symantec strongly recommends:

Deploy network and host-based intrusion detection systems to monitor network traffic for signs of anomalous or suspicious activity. This may aid in detection of attacks or malicious activity related to exploitation of latent vulnerabilities.

Symantec credits Derek Callaway with Security Objectives (  http://www.security-objectives.com/ ) for reporting these issues and for providing full coordination while Symantec resolved it.

References
SecurityFocus (http://www.securityfocus.com/) has assigned a Bugtraq ID (BID) to these issues for inclusion in the SecurityFocus vulnerability data base. BID 31678 has been assigned to the qiomkfile uninitialized file system blocks issue and BID 31679 to the qioadmin unauthorized file disclosure issue. The BIDs can be found at: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/31678 and http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/31679.

These issues are candidates for inclusion in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) list (http://cve.mitre.org/), which standardizes names for security problems.  CVE-2008-3248 has been assigned to the qiomkfile uninitialized file system blocks issue.

A CVE Candidate number has been requested from the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) initiative for the qioadmin issue. This advisory will be revised accordingly upon receipt of the CVE Candidate number.