Description
Race condition in daemon/slave.c in gdm before 2.14.1 allows local users to gain privileges via a symlink attack when gdm performs chown and chgrp operations on the .ICEauthority file.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 3.1 | gdm | 2.6.0.8-1sarge2 | DSA-1040-1 |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 4 | gdm | 1:2.6.0.5-7.rhel4.15 | RHSA-2007:0286 |
Advisories 2
- RHSA-2007:0286 Red Hat Security Advisory: gdm security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
- DSA-1040-1 gdm - programming error Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- gdm-slavec-symlink(26092) vdb-entry
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=188303
- http://cvs.gnome.org/viewcvs/gdm2/daemon/slave.c?r1=1.260&r2=1.261
- ADV-2006-1465 vdb-entry
- MDKSA-2006:083 vendor-advisory
- DSA-1040 vendor-advisory
- 17635 vdb-entry
- RHSA-2007:0286 vendor-advisory
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:10092 vdb-entry signature
- FEDORA-2006-338 vendor-advisory
- USN-278-1 vendor-advisory