Risk: Medium
A bogus security bulletin and "patch" that circulated on the Internet during the third week of November marked the return of a Phishing hoax aimed at Linux users.
The fake security bulletin warned Linux users of a "critical-critical" security hole that could compromise systems and allow root access to a remote attacker. It claimed the vulnerability was found in fileutils, the package of essential system utilities that manipulate files on a system. It warned of problem distributions including Red Hat versions 7.2 through 9.0, and Fedora Core 1 and Core 2 as well as others. However, the warning said BSD and Solaris platforms were unaffected by the vulnerability.
"The security bulletin was sent by an individual with malicious intent and not the Red Hat Security Response Team," said Josh Bressers, team member. "The message instructs the recipient to download and, when run, will install a backdoor Trojan on the victim's system."
"Again, please apply this patch as soon as possible or you risk your system and others' to be compromised," the fake bulletin said. It provided a link to a university archive.
However, Bressers said official alerts from Red Hat are always digitally signed to ensure their integrity. And patches will be available from Red Hat Network to obtain updates and errata.