1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-215-1

USN-215-1: fetchmailconf vulnerability

Publication date

8 November 2005

Overview

fetchmailconf vulnerability

Releases

Details

Thomas Wolff and Miloslav Trmac discovered a race condition in the
fetchmailconf program. The output configuration file was initially
created with insecure permissions, and secure permissions were applied
after writing the configuration into the file. During this time, the
file was world readable on a standard system (unless the user manually
tightened his umask setting), which could expose email passwords to
local users.

Thomas Wolff and Miloslav Trmac discovered a race condition in the
fetchmailconf program. The output configuration file was initially
created with insecure permissions, and secure permissions were applied
after writing the configuration into the file. During this time, the
file was world readable on a standard system (unless the user manually
tightened his umask setting), which could expose email passwords to
local users.

Update instructions

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
5.10 breezy fetchmailconf – 
5.04 hoary fetchmailconf – 
4.10 warty fetchmailconf – 

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References

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