A flaw was found in RPM's signature check functionality when reading a package file. This flaw allows an attacker who can convince a victim to install a seemingly verifiable package, whose signature header was modified, to cause RPM database corruption and execute code. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data integrity, confidentiality, and system availability.

It was found that rpm did not properly handle RPM installations when a destination path was a symbolic link to a directory, possibly changing ownership and permissions of an arbitrary directory, and RPM files being placed in an arbitrary destination. An attacker, with write access to a directory in which a subdirectory will be installed, could redirect that directory to an arbitrary location and gain root privilege.

Integer overflow in RPM 4.12 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted CPIO header in the payload section of an RPM file, which triggers a stack-based buffer overflow.

Race condition in RPM 4.11.1 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted RPM file whose installation extracts the contents to temporary files before validating the signature, as demonstrated by installing a file in the /etc/cron.d directory.

The rpmpkgRead function in lib/package.c in RPM 4.10.x before 4.10.2 does not return an error code in certain situations involving an "unparseable signature," which allows remote attackers to bypass RPM signature checks via a crafted package.

The headerLoad function in lib/header.c in RPM before 4.9.1.3 does not properly validate region tags, which allows user-assisted remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a large region size in a package header.

RPM before 4.9.1.3 does not properly validate region tags, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via an invalid region tag in a package header to the (1) headerLoad, (2) rpmReadSignature, or (3) headerVerify function.

The headerVerifyInfo function in lib/header.c in RPM before 4.9.1.3 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a negative value in a region offset of a package header, which is not properly handled in a numeric range comparison.

lib/fsm.c in RPM 4.8.0 and earlier does not properly reset the metadata of an executable file during replacement of the file in an RPM package upgrade or deletion of the file in an RPM package removal, which might allow local users to gain privileges or bypass intended access restrictions by creating a hard link to a vulnerable file that has (1) POSIX file capabilities or (2) SELinux context information, a related issue to CVE-2010-2059.

lib/fsm.c in RPM 4.8.0 and earlier does not properly reset the metadata of an executable file during replacement of the file in an RPM package upgrade or deletion of the file in an RPM package removal, which might allow local users to bypass intended access restrictions by creating a hard link to a vulnerable file that has a POSIX ACL, a related issue to CVE-2010-2059.