[SECURITY] A Security Issue with FileSession in 3.2.7

• Key: MODPYTHON-135
• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Resolution: Fixed
• Priority: Major
• Assignee: Jim Gallacher
• Reporter: Graham Dumpleton
• Component/s: session
• Affects Version/s: 3.2.7
• Fix Version/s: 3.2.8, 3.3.1

Description

As announced on the mailing list:

  http://www.modpython.org/pipermail/mod_python/2006-February/020284.html

If you are using the recently released mod_python 3.2.7 please beware that a
security issue was discovered in the FileSession code.

You are vulnerable only if you are using mod_python 3.2.7 AND you are using
FileSession to keep sessions. FileSession is new in 3.2.7 and is not enabled by
default, therefore if you are using mod_python Session in its default
configuration you are not vulnerable.

The extent of this vulnerability is limited. Only a user who already has an
account (or some ability to write to the filesystem) on the system running
httpd could exploit it, and to the best of our knowledge such a user could
potentially cause httpd to execute arbitrary code.

We are working on a security release of the next version of mod_python and
expect it to be out shortly. Until then, please do not use FileSession.