Package: xexec Version: 0.0.3-24 Severity: grave Tags: security Justification: user security hole
I've been fixing outstanding GCC 4.3 issues and found this while looking into the build failure: -- void Exec::runline() { ofstream command_file; int useless; command_file.open("/tmp/exec.tmp", ios::out); /* What we're doing here is saving our command in a little shell script that will be ran comming up here. */ command_file << "#!/bin/sh\n" << cline->text(); /* The fun, object orriented STREAM way of doing things!! wooohoooo */ command_file.close(); // Finish up. useless = execlp(SHELL, SHELL, "/tmp/exec.tmp", NULL); /* Run shell with command line file as script. */ } -- Symlinking /tmp/exec.tmp to any file writable to the user running xexec will overwrite that file with #!/bin/sh name-of-executed-program Fortunately xexec is almost useless and with hardly any users, since the functionality is provided by the desktop equivalents in KDE, GNOME, xfce or a regular xterm: Description: Run a simple arbitrary command from X xexec is a program designed to allow quick and easy access for running simple command lines. For example, let's say you wanted to start Netscape, but didn't have it on your window manager's menu. Just run xexec, and type netscape in the text box, press enter, and there you have it. It is especially useful for allowing access to any available command via one primary menu entry. I'll request archive removal, I don't think we need to waste time with it. But this is a nice example why we need to be more careful about fringe packages of poor quality: they don't receive any review for practical purposes. This package has been in the archive for ten years and the error is not exactly hard to find, since the package is ridiculously small: (the 165 lines even include generated MOC) SLOC Directory SLOC-by-Language (Sorted) 165 top_dir cpp=165 6 debian sh=6 0 doc (none) Totals grouped by language (dominant language first): cpp: 165 (96.49%) sh: 6 (3.51%) Cheers, Moritz -- System Information: Debian Release: lenny/sid APT prefers unstable APT policy: (500, 'unstable') Architecture: i386 (i686) Kernel: Linux 2.6.24-1-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core) Locale: LANG=C, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (charmap=ISO-8859-15) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash Versions of packages xexec depends on: ii libc6 2.7-9 GNU C Library: Shared libraries ii libgcc1 1:4.3.0-1 GCC support library ii libqt3-mt 3:3.3.8b-4 Qt GUI Library (Threaded runtime v ii libstdc++6 4.3.0-1 The GNU Standard C++ Library v3 ii libx11-6 2:1.0.3-7 X11 client-side library ii libxext6 2:1.0.4-1 X11 miscellaneous extension librar xexec recommends no packages. -- no debconf information -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]