Download Patch ESX-1001209 for VMware ESX Server 3.0.0

Release Date: 9/6/07
Last Updated: 9/6/07

Summary

This patch provides an updated PAM package that resolves several security issues in the service console. Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) allow administrators to set up authentication policies without having to recompile programs that handle authentication. A vulnerability was found that could allow console users with access to certain device files to cause damage to recordable CD drives. Certain file permissions have now been modified to disallow access.

A flaw was found with console device permissions. It was possible for various console devices to retain ownership of the console user after logging out, which could result in leakage of information to an unauthorized user. Some PAM modules were found with small memory leaks that caused applications to call PAM authentication repeatedly in the same process.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) assigned the names CVE-2004-0813 and CVE-2007-1716 to these issues.

Symptoms

There are no symptoms available for the security fixes.

Impact

This patch resolves the security issue described above.

View KB 1001209 for more information on this patch.

For the related patch for ESX Server 3.0.1, see KB 1001694. For the related patch for ESX Server 3.0.2, see KB 1001728.

Download Instructions

Download and verify the patch bundle as follows :

1. Download patch ESX-1001209 by clicking on the link above.
2. Log in to the ESX Server service console as root.
3. Create a local depot directory.

   # mkdir -p /var/updates

   Note: VMware recommends that you use the updates directory.

4. Change your working directory to /var/updates.

   # cd /var/updates

5. Download the tar file into the /var/updates directory.
6. Verify the integrity of the downloaded tar file:

   # md5sum ESX-1001209.tgz
   
   The md5 checksum output should match the following:
   
   1c7adad00a20f9e7ba1fbe1663ad4d66 ESX-1001209.tgz

7. Extract the compressed tar archive:

   # tar -xvzf ESX-1001209.tgz

8. Change to the newly created directory, /var/updates/ESX-1001209:

   # cd ESX-1001209

Installation Instructions

Once you have downloaded and extracted the archive, and if you are in the directory you created above, install the update using the following command:

# esxupdate update

To run esxupdate from a different directory, you must specify the bundle path in the command:

# esxupdate -r file://<directory>/ESX-1001209 update

for example, if the host is called depot:

# esxupdate -r file:///depot/var/updates/ESX-1001209 update

During the update process, logs appear on the terminal. You can specify the verbosity of esxupdate logs by using the -v option as shown below.

# esxupdate -v 10 file://<directory>/ESX-1001209 update

For more information on using esxupdate, refer to the Patch Management for ESX Server 3 tech note at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_esxupdate.pdf.