The latest security information on Intel® products.

Intel® C++ Compiler and Intel® Fortran Compiler Insecure File Permission Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Summary: 

Updated software is available for the customers using Intel® C++ Compiler Professional Edition for Linux* and Intel® Fortran Compiler Professional Edition for Linux* to mitigate a local privilege escalation vulnerability which could potentially be triggered during the compilation process.

Description: 

This issue could allow an authenticated attacker to escalate their privileges by manipulating the files with insecure file permissions and waiting for users with higher privilege to compile the modified files. Intel has released a software update to the Intel® C++ Compiler Professional Edition for Linux* and Intel® Fortran Compiler Professional Edition for Linux* to resolve this issue.

This issue only affects the systems with the affected compilers’ development environment installed and does not affect applications compiled using the affected compilers.

Affected products: 

Intel® C++ Compiler Professional Edition (for Linux*) and Intel® Fortran Compiler Professional Edition (for Linux*) Version 11.1 Update 7 Build 20100806 or earlier.

Recommendations: 

Steps for affected users to obtain Update 8 for 11.1 Release for Intel® C++ Compiler Professional Edition for Linux*:

1.  Login to https://registrationcenter.intel.com/RegCenter/Register.aspx

2.  Click on “Version 2011 (Update 1)” which is next to “Intel® C++ Composer XE for Linux” .

3. Under the “Select other packages from the dropdown menu:” section, select 11.1 under “Release” column and Update 8 in "Update (Build#)" column.

4. Proceed to the desired download.

Steps for affected users to obtain Update 8 for 11.1 Release for Intel® Fortran Compiler Professional Edition for Linux*:

1.  Login to https://registrationcenter.intel.com/RegCenter/Register.aspx

2.  Click on “Version 2011 (Update 1)” which is next to “Intel® Fortran Composer XE for Linux” .

3. Under the “Select other packages from the dropdown menu:” section, select 11.1 under “Release” column and Update 8 in "Update (Build#)" column.

4. Proceed to the desired download.

Check the Package ID of the installed compiler to determine if you need to install this update. Package ID can be obtained by using the -V compiler switch. Execute “icc –V” to obtain the version of the C++ compiler and “ifort –V” for the Fortran compiler. The trailing digit numbers displayed in the version information indicates the Package ID. The Package ID for the installed C++ compiler is 11.1.073 as in the example below.

Intel(R) C Intel(R) 64 Compiler Professional for applications running on Intel(R) 64, Version 11.1    Build 20100806 Package ID: l_cproc_p_11.1.073

Copyright (C) 1985-2010 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

You will need to apply this update if the Package ID is 11.1.073 or older. 

Steps to apply the update 8:

1)      Uninstall the existing Intel® C++ Compiler Professional Edition for Linux*or Intel® Fortran Compiler Professional Edition for Linux* on your system using the “uninstall.sh” script.

2)      Download and install the update 8 of the Intel® C++ Compiler Professional Edition for Linux* or Intel® Fortran Compiler Professional Edition for Linux* from above links.

Please contact Intel Support (http://premier.intel.com) if you are unable to upgrade.

* Other brands and names may be claimed as the property of others.

Acknowledgements: 

Intel would like to thank Marsh Ray for working with us.