ProFTPD: Local privilege escalation

Background

ProFTPD is a powerful, configurable, and free FTP daemon.

Description

A flaw exists in the mod_ctrls module of ProFTPD, normally used to allow FTP server administrators to configure the daemon at runtime.

Impact

An FTP server administrator permitted to interact with mod_ctrls could potentially compromise the ProFTPD process and execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the FTP Daemon, which is normally the root user.

Workaround

Disable mod_ctrls, or ensure only trusted users can access this feature.

Resolution

All ProFTPD users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-ftp/proftpd-1.3.1_rc1"