Ubuntu Security Notices
USN-293-1

USN-293-1: gdm vulnerability

Publication date

9 June 2006

Overview

gdm vulnerability

Releases

Details

If the admin configured a gdm theme that provided an user list, any
user could activate the gdm setup program by first choosing the setup
option from the menu, clicking on the user list and entering his own
(instead of root’s) password. This allowed normal users to configure
potentially dangerous features like remote or automatic login.

Please note that this does not affect a default Ubuntu installation,
since the default theme does not provide an user list. In Ubuntu 6.06
you additionally have to have the “ConfigAvailable” setting enabled in
gdm.conf to be vulnerable (it is disabled by default).

Ubuntu 5.04 is not affected by this flaw.

Update instructions

In general, a standard system upgrade is sufficient to effect 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
6.06 dapper	gdm – 2.14.6-0ubuntu2.1
5.10 breezy	gdm – 2.8.0.5-0ubuntu1.2

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References

CVE-2006-2452

CVE-2006-2452