VULHUB ™

Temporary file monitoring and cleaning utilities are commonplace on many UNIX systems. Popular tools are 'tmpwatch' and 'stmpclean'. A weakness in the design of these tools has recently been published. During operation, some of these utilities delete temporary files that have not been accessed for a pre-specified amount of time. Under certain circumstances, the removal of a process' temporary file may create exploitable conditions.

Temporary file monitoring and cleaning utilities are commonplace on many UNIX systems. Popular tools are 'tmpwatch' and 'stmpclean'. A weakness in the design of these tools has recently been published. During operation, some of these utilities delete temporary files that have not been accessed for a pre-specified amount of time. Under certain circumstances, the removal of a process' temporary file may create exploitable conditions.