USN-2876-1: eCryptfs vulnerability

Ubuntu Security Notice USN-2876-1

20th January, 2016

ecryptfs-utils vulnerability

A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:

• Ubuntu 15.10
• Ubuntu 15.04
• Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
• Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Summary

mount.ecryptfs_private could be used to run programs as an administrator.

Software description

• ecryptfs-utils - eCryptfs cryptographic filesystem utilities

Details

Jann Horn discovered that mount.ecryptfs_private would mount over certain
directories in the proc filesystem. A local attacker could use this to escalate
their privileges. (CVE-2016-1572)

Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 15.10:

ecryptfs-utils 108-0ubuntu1.1

Ubuntu 15.04:

ecryptfs-utils 107-0ubuntu1.3

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS:

ecryptfs-utils 104-0ubuntu1.14.04.4

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS:

ecryptfs-utils 96-0ubuntu3.5

To update your system, please follow these instructions: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Upgrades.

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

References

CVE-2016-1572