USN-262-1: Ubuntu 5.10 installer password disclosure
Publication date
13 March 2006
Overview
Ubuntu 5.10 installer password disclosure
Releases
Details
Karl Øie discovered that the Ubuntu 5.10 installer failed to clean
passwords in the installer log files. Since these files were
world-readable, any local user could see the password of the first
user account, which has full sudo privileges by default.
The updated packages remove the passwords and additionally make the
log files readable only by root.
This does not affect the Ubuntu 4.10, 5.04, or the upcoming 6.04
installer. However, if you upgraded from Ubuntu 5.10 to the current
development version of Ubuntu 6.04 ('Dapper Drake'), please ensure
that you upgrade the passwd package to version 1:4.0.13-7ubuntu2 to
fix the installer log files.
Karl Øie discovered that the Ubuntu 5.10 installer failed to clean
passwords in the installer log files. Since these files were
world-readable, any local user could see the password of the first
user account, which has full sudo privileges by default.
The updated packages remove the passwords and additionally make the
log files readable only by root.
This does not affect the Ubuntu 4.10, 5.04, or the upcoming 6.04
installer. However, if you upgraded from Ubuntu 5.10 to the current
development version of Ubuntu 6.04 ('Dapper Drake'), please ensure
that you upgrade the passwd package to version 1:4.0.13-7ubuntu2 to
fix the installer log files.
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 | passwd – | ||
| base-config – | |||
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