GCC-XML: Insecure temporary file usage

Background

GCC-XML is an XML output extension to the C++ front-end of GCC.

Description

Dmitry E. Oboukhov reported that find_flags in GCC-XML does not handle “/tmp/*.cxx” temporary files securely.

Impact

A local attacker could perform symlink attacks to overwrite arbitrary files with the privileges of the user running the application.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All GCC-XML users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-cpp/gccxml-0.9.0_pre20090516"