Re: Permission problem in Skype BETA for linux

[Peter Conrad <conrad@xxxxxxxxx>]

Update (February 2005):

The issue described below has re-appeared in the official (non-BETA)
version released on Feb 1, 2005. Skype were notified on Feb 10, and a
fixed version was released on Feb 14.

Vulnerable: skype-1.0.0.1-suse.i586.rpm (but see below)
Fixed:      skype-1.0.0.7-suse.i586.rpm

NB: it seems that a fixed version skype-1.0.0.1-suse.i586.rpm was
    made available on Feb 11, but without modifying the version number.
    The difference can only be seen with "rpm -qi ..." - :

conrad@adams:~> rpm -qip skype-1.0.0.1-suse.i586.rpm | grep Release
Release     : suse               Build Date: Mon Jan 31 19:00:45 2005
conrad@adams:~> rpm -qip skype-1.0.0.1b-suse.i586.rpm | grep Release
Release     : suse.hotfix1       Build Date: Fri Feb 11 14:18:39 2005

Am Mittwoch, 22. Dezember 2004 18:12 schrieb Peter Conrad:
> Date: December 2004
>
> Product: Skype (http://skype.com/)
>
> "Skype is free Internet telephony that just works.
>  Skype is for calling other people on their computers or phones.
>  Download Skype and start calling for free all over the world."
>
> Affected versions:
>
> Linux RPM's version 0.92.0.12, possibly others.
> (Linux versions are marked as "BETA")
>
> Problem Description:
>
> During installation a world-writable directory "/usr/share/skype/lang" is
> created.
>
> Impact:
>
> The directory (presumably) contains various language files used by the
> skype application. An attacker could modify these files. It is unknown if
> this could be used for attacking local users running the skype application.
>
> Solution:
>
> The problem seems to be fixed in version 0.93.0.3, which is currently
> available for download from the skype website.
>
> History:
>
>  - Vendor notified on 19-Nov-2004
>  - Vendor acknowledged problem within 40 minutes
>  - Fixed version available since 21-Dec-2004

-- 
Peter Conrad                        Tel: +49 6102 / 80 99 072
[ t]ivano Software GmbH             Fax: +49 6102 / 80 99 071
Bahnhofstr. 18                      http://www.tivano.de/
63263 Neu-Isenburg

Germany