Overview
Mac OS X's Find-By-Content indexing may store file data where it can be served to remote users by Apache.
Description
The Find-By-Content feature of Mac OS X generates indexing data from the contents of files in each directory. It then stores the indexing data for each directory in a hidden yet world-readable file named ".FBCIndex" within the same directory. If files in a directory served by the Apache Web server are indexed, the hidden index data file will be stored in the same directory where it can be viewed by remote users via HTTP. |
Impact
Users may not be aware that their potentially sensitive file data is being indexed and stored where it can be served by Apache to the public. |
Solution
The CERT/CC is currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem. |
Turn off Find-By-Content indexing in Mac OS X. Use Unix file permissions or Apache run-time configuration directives to limit access to the hidden index data file. |
Vendor Information
CVSS Metrics
| Group | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|
| Base | ||
| Temporal | ||
| Environmental |
References
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Eric Bennett for discovering this vulnerability.
This document was written by Shawn Van Ittersum.
Other Information
| CVE IDs: | None |
| Severity Metric: | 11.25 |
| Date Public: | 2001-09-10 |
| Date First Published: | 2002-08-05 |
| Date Last Updated: | 2005-03-28 15:51 UTC |
| Document Revision: | 22 |