1.16. brltty

Updated brltty packages that fix one security issue and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having low security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in the References section.

brltty (Braille TTY) is a background process (daemon) which provides access to the Linux console (when in text mode) for a blind person using a refreshable braille display. It drives the braille display, and provides complete screen review functionality.

It was discovered that a brltty library had an insecure relative RPATH (runtime library search path) set in the ELF (Executable and Linking Format) header. A local user able to convince another user to run an application using brltty in an attacker-controlled directory, could run arbitrary code with the privileges of the victim. (CVE-2008-3279)

These updated packages also provide fixes for the following bugs:

* the brltty configuration file is documented in the brltty manual page, but there is no separate manual page for the /etc/brltty.conf configuration file: running "man brltty.conf" returned "No manual entry for brltty.conf" rather than opening the brltty manual entry. This update adds brltty.conf.5 as an alias to the brltty manual page. Consequently, running "man brltty.conf" now opens the manual entry documenting the brltty.conf specification. ( BZ#530554 )

* previously, the brltty-pm.conf configuration file was installed in the /etc/brltty/ directory. This file, which configures Papenmeier Braille Terminals for use with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, is optional. As well, it did not come with a corresponding manual page. With this update, the file has been moved to /usr/share/doc/brltty-3.7.2/BrailleDrivers/Papenmeier/. This directory also includes a README document that explains the file's purpose and format. ( BZ#530554 )

* during the brltty packages installation, the message

Creating screen inspection device /dev/vcsa...done.

was presented at the console. This was inadequate, especially during the initial install of the system. These updated packages do not send any message to the console during installation. (BZ#529163)

* although brltty contains ELF objects, the brltty-debuginfo package was empty. With this update, the -debuginfo package contains valid debugging information as expected. (BZ#500545)

* the MAX_NR_CONSOLES definition was acquired by brltty by #including linux/tty.h in Programs/api_client.c. MAX_NR_CONSOLES has since moved to linux/vt.h but the #include in api_client.c was not updated. Consequently, brltty could not be built from the source RPM against the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel. This update corrects the #include in api_client.c to linux/vt.h and brltty now builds from source as expected. (BZ#456247)

All brltty users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which resolve these issues.