1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-918-1

USN-918-1: Samba vulnerability

Publication date

24 March 2010

Overview

Samba vulnerability

Releases

Packages

Details

It was discovered the Samba handled symlinks in an unexpected way when both
"wide links" and "UNIX extensions" were enabled, which is the default. A
remote attacker could create symlinks and access arbitrary files from the
server.

It was discovered the Samba handled symlinks in an unexpected way when both
"wide links" and "UNIX extensions" were enabled, which is the default. A
remote attacker could create symlinks and access arbitrary files from the
server.

Update instructions

In general, a standard system upgrade is sufficient to effect the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

ATTENTION: This update changes the default samba behaviour. For security reasons, it is no longer possible to use wide links and UNIX extensions at the same time. After applying this security update, wide links will be disabled automatically as UNIX extensions are turned on by default. If wide links are required, you can re-enable them by adding "unix extensions = no" to the [global] section of the /etc/samba/smb.conf configuration file.

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

Ubuntu Release Package Version
9.10 karmic samba –  2:3.4.0-3ubuntu5.6
9.04 jaunty samba –  2:3.3.2-1ubuntu3.4
8.10 intrepid samba –  2:3.2.3-1ubuntu3.8
8.04 hardy samba –  3.0.28a-1ubuntu4.11
6.06 dapper samba –  3.0.22-1ubuntu3.11

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References

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