R: Insecure temporary file creation

Background

R is a GPL licensed implementation of S, a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics.

Description

Dmitry E. Oboukhov reported that the “javareconf” script uses temporary files in an insecure manner.

Impact

A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability to overwrite arbitrary files with the privileges of the user running the application.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All R users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-lang/R-2.7.1"