Note: This is an archival copy of Security Sun Alert 200677 as previously published on http://sunsolve.sun.com.
Latest version of this security advisory is available from http://support.oracle.com as Sun Alert 1000532.1.
Article ID : 1000532.1
Article Type : Sun Alerts (SURE)
Last reviewed : 2007-04-16
Audience : PUBLIC
Copyright Notice: Copyright © 2010, Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.

GNOME 2.0 XScreenSaver Will Not Lock as Root



Category
Security

Release Phase
Resolved

Product
Solaris 9 Operating System
Solaris 8 Operating System

Bug Id
4849641

Date of Workaround Release
23-SEP-2003

Date of Resolved Release
17-APR-2007

Impact

Root users logging into the GNOME desktop cannot lock the screen via XScreenSaver.

For more information on this issue, please see: http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/faq.html#root-lock


Contributing Factors

This issue can occur in the following releases:

SPARC Platform

  • GNOME 2.0 (for Solaris 8) without patch 115298-01
  • GNOME 2.0 (for Solaris 9) without patch 115158-03

x86 Platform

  • GNOME 2.0 (for Solaris 8) without patch 115299-01
  • GNOME 2.0 (for Solaris 9) without patch 115159-03

To determine the version of GNOME on a system, the following command can be run:

% /usr/bin/gnome-about

Symptoms

There are two possible symptoms for this issue:

  1. The screen will not lock when selecting "Lock Screen" from the "Actions" menu item.
  2. For root desktop sessions, the screen will not automatically lock after a period of inactivity.

Workaround

To work around this issue, use xlock(1) from a command line.


Resolution

This issue is addressed in the following releases:

SPARC Platform

  • GNOME 2.0 (for Solaris 8) with patch 115298-01 or later
  • GNOME 2.0 (for Solaris 9) with patch 115158-03 or later

x86 Platform

  • GNOME 2.0 (for Solaris 8) with patch 115299-01 or later
  • GNOME 2.0 (for Solaris 9) with patch 115159-03 or later


Modification History
Date: 17-APR-2007
  • Updated Contributing Factors and Resolution sections
  • State: Resolved


References

115158-03
115159-03
115298-01
115299-01




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