Re: xscreensaver exploit for Redhat 7.3

[Steven Leikeim <steven () enel ucalgary ca>]

On Thu, Mar 06, 2003 at 06:26:41PM -0000, Angelo Rosiello wrote:
> I think you don't need other comments:
>
> /*
> **
> ** Tested on rh 7.3 using XFree86
> ** xscreensaver vulnerability
> ** AUTHORS: Angelo Rosiello (Guilecool) & deka
> ** REQUIRES: X must be run!
> ** EFFECTS: local root exploit!
> **

Oddly enough, this does NOT work on my RedHat 7.3 installation. I have the
default xscreensaver RPM installed (xscreensaver-3.33-4).

When I run this, xscreensaver DOES dump core, however, xscreensaver is not
suid root and so will not itself give a root exploit. Perhaps there is an
expected interaction with the X server (which is running as root) but this
is not clear from Angelo's message.



Steven Leikeim
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Calgary