CentOS: (CVE-2014-0242) CESA-2014:0788: mod_wsgi

Description

Details for this vulnerability have not been published by NIST at this point. Descriptions from software vendor advisories for this issue are provided below.

From CESA-2014:0788:

The mod_wsgi adapter is an Apache module that provides a WSGI-compliant interface for hosting Python-based web applications within Apache.

It was found that mod_wsgi did not properly drop privileges if the call to setuid() failed. If mod_wsgi was set up to allow unprivileged users to run WSGI applications, a local user able to run a WSGI application could possibly use this flaw to escalate their privileges on the system. (CVE-2014-0240)

Note: mod_wsgi is not intended to provide privilege separation for WSGI applications. Systems relying on mod_wsgi to limit or sandbox the privileges of mod_wsgi applications should migrate to a different solution with proper privilege separation.

It was discovered that mod_wsgi could leak memory of a hosted web application via the "Content-Type" header. A remote attacker could possibly use this flaw to disclose limited portions of the web application's memory. (CVE-2014-0242)

Red Hat would like to thank Graham Dumpleton for reporting these issues. Upstream acknowledges Róbert Kisteleki as the original reporter of CVE-2014-0240, and Buck Golemon as the original reporter of CVE-2014-0242.

All mod_wsgi users are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which contains backported patches to correct these issues.