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Some interesting publicity

For today's amusement, let's look at this TechWeb article on patch management. In the middle of the article one finds:

But while Microsoft inevitably receives the bulk of security hole/patch attention, the problem extends to Linux/open-source code as well. Merrill Lynch, for example, reports that one of its Linux servers received three times as many updates as their Windows platform. Ironically, according to an observer at Continental Airlines, many of the attacks aimed at Windows vulnerabilities are written by Linux experts.

The first claim - that a given Linux server gets more updates than a given Windows server - could at least be verified. Whether the figure means anything is another story. Updates to a Linux system cover the vast array of packages available there. Many of them result from active code audits and fix obscure problems that are difficult to exploit. Of the large number of security problems fixed by Linux distributors each year, it is a good bet that most of them are never exploited to compromise even a single system. How many systems have you encountered that are threatened by any of these recently-patched problems?

  • The Hangul Terminal vulnerability ("Since it is not possible to embed a carriage return into the window title the attacker would then have to convince the victim to press 'Enter' for it to process the title as a command...")

  • Insecure temporary files in gzip. It is a local vulnerability, but the chances of it being used are very small.

  • The file vulnerability, which requires an attacker to convince the system administrator to run "file" on a specially-crafted file.

...and so on. It is good that these problems are being fixed, but they do not threaten most users. The updates to that Windows system, instead, are far more likely to be addressing serious vulnerabilities that are being actively exploited.

The second claim in the TechWeb article ("many of the attacks aimed at Windows vulnerabilities are written by Linux experts") requires a response. How, exactly, did they come by this information? It is, after all, rare for authors of malware to include their resumes with the code. This statement is pure slander which has been reported as fact. One can only hope that a correction will be forthcoming.

Comments (6 posted)

New vulnerabilities

atftp: buffer overflow

Package(s):atftp CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0380
Created:June 9, 2003 Updated:June 12, 2003
Description: Rick Patel discovered that atftpd is vulnerable to a buffer overflow when a long filename is sent to the server. An attacker could exploit this bug remotely to execute arbitrary code on the server. Read the full advisory for more information.
Alerts:
Gentoo 200306-03 2003-06-08
Debian DSA-314-1 2003-06-11

Comments (none posted)

eterm: buffer overflow

Package(s):eterm CVE #(s):
Created:June 9, 2003 Updated:June 12, 2003
Description: "bazarr" discovered that eterm is vulnerable to a buffer overflow of the ETERMPATH environment variable. This bug can be exploited to gain the privileges of the group "utmp" on a system where eterm is installed.
Alerts:
Debian DSA-309-1 2003-06-06
Debian DSA-309-2 2003-06-06

Comments (none posted)

gzip: insecure temporary files

Package(s):gzip CVE #(s):CVE-1999-1332 CAN-2003-0367
Created:June 9, 2003 Updated:June 16, 2003
Description: Paul Szabo discovered that znew, a script included in the gzip package, creates its temporary files without taking precautions to avoid a symlink attack (CAN-2003-0367).

The gzexe script has a similar vulnerability which was patched in an earlier release but inadvertently reverted.

Alerts:
Debian DSA-308-1 2003-06-06
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2003.031 2003-06-11
Gentoo 200306-05 2003-06-14
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:068 2003-06-16

Comments (none posted)

hanterm: two vulnerabilities in Hangul Terminal

Package(s):hanterm CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0077 CAN-2003-0079
Created:June 6, 2003 Updated:June 11, 2003
Description: Hangul Terminal is a terminal emulator for the X Window System, based on Xterm.

Hangul Terminal provides an escape sequence for reporting the current window title, which essentially takes the current title and places it directly on the command line. An attacker can craft an escape sequence that sets the window title of a victim using Hangul Terminal to an arbitrary command and then report it to the command line. Since it is not possible to embed a carriage return into the window title the attacker would then have to convince the victim to press Enter for it to process the title as a command, although the attacker could craft other escape sequences that might convince the victim to do so.

In addition, it is possible to lock up Hangul Terminal before version 2.0.5 by sending an invalid DEC UDK escape sequence.

Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:070-01 2003-06-06
Yellow Dog YDU-20030607-2 2003-06-07

Comments (none posted)

KDE: vulnerability in SSL implementation

Package(s):KDE CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0370
Created:June 6, 2003 Updated:June 11, 2003
Description: KDE versions 2.2.2 and earlier have a vulnerability in their SSL implementation that makes it possible for users of Konqueror and other SSL enabled KDE software to fall victim to a man-in-the-middle attack.
Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:192-01 2003-06-05

Comments (none posted)

mod_php: integer overflow

Package(s):mod_php php CVE #(s):
Created:June 9, 2003 Updated:June 12, 2003
Description: The PHP emalloc() function implements the error safe wrapper around malloc(). Unfortunately this function suffers from an integer overflow and considering the fact that emalloc() is used in many places around PHP source code, it may lead to many serious security issues. Read the full advisory.

The function str_repeat(string input, int multiplier) returns input repeated multiplier times. The implementation of this function suffers from a simple integer overflow caused by a very long second argument and could allow a local/remote attacker in the worst case to gain control over the web server. Read the full advisory.

The function array_pad(array input, int pad_size, mixed pad_value) returns a copy of the input padded to size specified by pad_size with pad_value. Unfortunately the implementation of this function suffers from an integer overflow caused by a very long second argument and could allow a local/remote attacker in the worst case to gain control over the web server. Read the full advisory.

Alerts:
Gentoo 200306-02 2003-06-08

Comments (none posted)

XaoS: improper setuid-root execution

Package(s):xaos CVE #(s):
Created:June 9, 2003 Updated:June 11, 2003
Description: XaoS, a program for displaying fractal images, is installed setuid root on certain architectures in order to use svgalib, which requires access to the video hardware. However, it is not designed for secure setuid execution, and can be exploited to gain root privileges.
Alerts:
Debian DSA-310-1 2003-06-08

Comments (none posted)

Updated vulnerabilities

LPRng: insecure temporary file

Package(s):LPRng CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0136
Created:April 14, 2003 Updated:June 16, 2003
Description: Karol Lewandowski discovered that psbanner, a printer filter that creates a PostScript format banner and is part of LPRng, insecurely creates a temporary file for debugging purpose when it is configured as filter. The program does not check whether this file already exists or is linked to another place writes its current environment and called arguments to the file unconditionally with the user id daemon.
Alerts:
Debian DSA-285-1 2003-04-14
Red Hat RHSA-2003:142-01 2003-04-24
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:060 2003-05-21
Yellow Dog YDU-20030602-5 2003-06-02
Immunix IMNX-2003-7+-013-01 2003-06-04
Gentoo 200306-04 2003-06-14

Comments (none posted)

perl-MailTools: remote command execution

Package(s):MailTools CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1271
Created:November 5, 2002 Updated:September 19, 2003
Description: The SuSE Security Team reviewed critical Perl modules, including the Mail::Mailer package. This package contains a security hole which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands in certain circumstances. This is due to the usage of mailx as default mailer which allows commands to be embedded in the mail body.

Note that mail processing programs which use this package can be affected by this vulnerability; in particular, SpamAssassin is vulnerable if you use the -r or -w flags.

Alerts:
SuSE SuSE-SA:2002:041 2002-11-05
Gentoo 200211-001 2002-11-06
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:076 2002-11-07
Gentoo 200302-01 2003-02-02
Debian DSA-386-1 2003-09-18

Comments (none posted)

Multiple-use vulnerability in Safe.pm

Package(s):Safe.pm CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1323
Created:October 9, 2002 Updated:February 20, 2004
Description: usePerl has a description of a vulnerability in the Safe.pm Perl module. It seems that if a Safe compartment is used more than once, it ceases to be safe. The problem is fixed in Safe 2.08.
Alerts:
Debian DSA-208-1 2002-12-12
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2002.014 2002-12-16
Trustix 2002-0087 2002-12-19
Gentoo 200212-6 2002-12-20
SCO Group CSSA-2004-007.0 2004-02-20

Comments (none posted)

Apache 2 - denial of service

Package(s):apache CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0189 CAN-2003-0245
Created:May 28, 2003 Updated:June 16, 2003
Description: A new set of denial of service vulnerabilities has been found in Apache versions 2.0 through 2.0.45. The potential for a remote code exploit apparently exists as well. See the Apache 2.0.46 announcement for more information.
Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:186-01 2003-05-28
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:063 2003-05-30
Gentoo 200305-13 2003-06-01
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:063-1 2003-06-02
Yellow Dog YDU-20030603-1 2003-06-03
Conectiva CLA-2003:661 2003-06-16

Comments (none posted)

bind buffer overflow vulnerability in DNS resolver libraries

Package(s):bind glibc CVE #(s):CAN-2002-0651 CAN-2002-0684
Created:July 8, 2002 Updated:October 1, 2003
Description: The BIND 4.9.8-OW2 patch and BIND 4.9.9 release (and thus 4.9.9-OW1) include fixes for a libc related vulnerability which does not affect Linux. Updates from the Internet Software Consortium (ISC) are available from here.

No release or branch of Openwall GNU/*/Linux (Owl) is known to be affected, due to Olaf Kirch's fixes for this problem getting into the GNU C library more than two years ago.

Unfortunatly that does not mean that Linux systems are not vulnerable. Similar code, without Olaf Firch's fixes, is in the glibc getnetbyXXX functions. These functions are described in the SuSE alert as " used by very few applications only, such as ifconfig and ifuser, which makes exploits less likely."

CERT Advisory: CA-2002-19 Buffer Overflow in Multiple DNS Resolver Libraries

CAN-2002-0651
CAN-2002-0684

Alerts:
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2002.006 2002-07-04
SuSE SuSE-SA:2002:026 2002-07-09
Conectiva CLA-2002:507 2002-07-11
Gentoo glibc-20020713 2002-07-13
Trustix 2002-0061 2002-07-15
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:043 2002-07-16
EnGarde ESA-20020724-018 2002-07-24
Red Hat RHSA-2002:139-10 2002-07-22
Eridani ERISA-2002:028 2002-07-25
Yellow Dog YDU-20020801-2 2002-08-01
SCO Group CSSA-2002-034.0 2002-08-05
Red Hat RHSA-2002:133-13 2002-08-08
Eridani ERISA-2002:035 2002-08-09
Yellow Dog YDU-20020810-3 2002-08-10
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:050 2002-08-13

Comments (1 posted)

Canna server: exploitable buffer overrun

Package(s):canna CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1158 CAN-2002-1159
Created:December 10, 2002 Updated:October 1, 2003
Description: Canna is a kana-kanji conversion server which is necessary for Japanese language character input.

A buffer overflow bug in the Canna server up to and including version 3.5b2 allows a local user to gain the privileges of the user 'bin' which could lead to further exploits. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2002-1158 to this issue.

A lack of validation of requests has been found that affects Canna version 3.6 and earlier. A malicious remote user could exploit this vulnerability to leak information, or cause a denial of service attack. (CAN-2002-1159)

See also http://canna.sourceforge.jp/sec/Canna-2002-01.txt

CAN-2002-1158
CAN-2002-1159

Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2002:246-18 2002-12-04
Gentoo 200212-8 2002-12-20
Debian DSA-224-1 2002-01-08
SCO Group CSSA-2003-005.0 2003-01-21

Comments (none posted)

CUPS: vulnerability in the CUPS IPP implementation

Package(s):cups CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0195
Created:May 27, 2003 Updated:July 22, 2003
Description: Phil D'Amore of Red Hat discovered a vulnerability in the CUPS IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) implementation. The IPP implementation is single-threaded, which means only one request can be serviced at a time. An attacker could make a partial request that does not time out and therefore creates a denial of service. In order to exploit this bug, an attacker must have the ability to make a TCP connection to the IPP port (by default 631).
Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:171-01 2003-05-27
Slackware ssa:2003-149-01 2003-05-29
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:062 2003-05-29
Yellow Dog YDU-20030602-3 2003-06-02
SuSE SuSE-SA:2003:028 2003-06-06
Debian DSA-317-1 2003-06-11
Gentoo 200306-09 2003-06-14
Conectiva CLA-2003:702 2003-07-22

Comments (none posted)

dvips: command execution vulnerability

Package(s):dvips CVE #(s):CAN-2002-0836
Created:October 16, 2002 Updated:June 10, 2003
Description: The dvips utility uses the system() function improperly when managing fonts. An attacker who can craft the right sort of print job can use this vulnerability to execute commands under the UID used by the print system.
Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2002:194-18 2002-10-08
Gentoo tetex-20021018 2002-10-18
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:070 2002-10-23
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:071 2002-10-24
Conectiva CLA-2002:537 2002-10-29
Debian DSA-207-1 2002-12-11
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2002.015 2002-12-16
Immunix IMNX-2003-7+-016-01 2003-06-09

Comments (none posted)

ethereal - format string vulnerability

Package(s):ethereal CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0081
Created:March 10, 2003 Updated:June 12, 2003
Description: The SOCKS dissector in Ethereal 0.9.9 is susceptible to a format string overflow. This vulnerability has been present in Ethereal since the SOCKS dissector was introduced in version 0.8.7. It was discovered by Georgi Guninski. Additionally, the NTLMSSP code is susceptible to a heap overflow. All users of Ethereal 0.9.9 and below are encouraged to upgrade. See the full advisory for additional information.
Alerts:
Gentoo 200303-10 2003-03-09
Debian DSA-258-1 2003-03-10
SuSE SuSE-SA:2003:019 2003-03-21
Conectiva CLA-2003:627 2003-04-16
Red Hat RHSA-2003:076-01 2003-04-23
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:051 2003-03-24

Comments (none posted)

Filename disclosure vulnerability in fam

Package(s):fam CVE #(s):CAN-2002-0875
Created:August 19, 2002 Updated:January 5, 2005
Description: "fam" (file alteration monitor) watches files and directories for changes and lets interested applications know when something happens. This package has a flaw in its group handling that blocks some legitimate operations while, at the same time, exposing the names of files that should otherwise be invisible.
Alerts:
Debian DSA-154-1 2002-08-15
Red Hat RHSA-2005:005-01 2005-01-05

Comments (none posted)

fetchmail: buffer overflow

Package(s):fetchmail CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1365
Created:December 17, 2002 Updated:October 20, 2003
Description: Versions of fetchmail prior to 6.2.0 have (yet another) buffer overflow vulnerability which can be exploited remotely via a suitably crafted message. See this advisory for details.
Alerts:
Conectiva CLA-2002:554 2002-12-16
Red Hat RHSA-2002:293-09 2002-12-17
Debian DSA-216-1 2002-12-24
SuSE SuSE-SA:2003:001 2003-01-02
SCO Group CSSA-2003-001.0 2003-01-09
EnGarde ESA-20030127-002 2003-01-27
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:011 2003-01-27
Immunix IMNX-2003-7+-023-01 2003-10-17

Comments (3 posted)

file - memory allocation problem, stack overflow

Package(s):file CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0102
Created:March 4, 2003 Updated:June 4, 2003
Description: Jeff Johnson found a memory allocation problem and David Endler found a stack overflow corruption problem in the file "Automatic File Content Type Recognition Tool" version 3.41. Nalin Dahyabhai improved ELF section and program header handling in file version 3.40. The folks at OpenPKG believe that file versions without those modifications are vulnerable to memory allocation and stack overflow problems which put security at risk.
Alerts:
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2003.017 2003-03-04
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:030 2003-03-06
Red Hat RHSA-2003:086-07 2003-03-07
EnGarde ESA-20030307-008 2003-03-07
Gentoo 200303-8 2003-03-08
Debian DSA-260-1 2003-03-13
SuSE SuSE-SA:2003:017 2003-03-21
Conectiva CLA-2003:617 2003-04-04
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:030-1 2003-04-17
SCO Group CSSA-2003-018.0 2003-04-28
Immunix IMNX-2003-7+-012-01 2003-06-03

Comments (none posted)

gPS: multiple vulnerabilities

Package(s):gPS CVE #(s):
Created:May 29, 2003 Updated:June 3, 2003
Description: gPS is a graphical application to watch system processes. In release 1.1.0 of the gps package, several security vulnerabilities were fixed, including several buffer overflows and a problem where any host could connect to the server.
Alerts:
Debian DSA-307-1 2003-05-27

Comments (none posted)

ghostscript: command execution vulnerability

Package(s):ghostscript CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0354
Created:June 2, 2003 Updated:June 16, 2003
Description: A flaw in unpatched versions of Ghostscript before 7.07 allows malicious postscript files to execute arbitrary commands even with -dSAFER enabled.
Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:181-01 2003-05-30
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2003.030 2003-06-03
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:065 2003-06-10
Yellow Dog YDU-20030607-1 2003-06-07
Gentoo 200306-08 2003-06-14

Comments (none posted)

Potential remote root exploit in glibc

Package(s):glibc CVE #(s):CAN-2002-0391
Created:August 14, 2002 Updated:June 29, 2003
Description: Felix von Leitner, discovered a potential division by zero bug in code derived from the SunRPC library which is used in glibc.This bug could be exploited to gain unauthorized root access to software linking to glibc.

Updating as soon as practical is a good idea.

Because SunRPC-derived XDR libraries are used by a variety of vendors in a variety of applications, this defect may lead to a number of differing security problems. Exploiting this vulnerability will lead to denial of service, execution of arbitrary code, or the disclosure of sensitive information.

CERT/CC Vulnerability Note VU#192995 Integer overflow in xdr_array() function when deserializing the XDR stream

Alerts:
Debian DSA-149-1 2002-08-13
Red Hat RHSA-2002:166-07 2002-08-12
Eridani ERISA-2002:036 2002-08-13
Trustix 2002-0067 2002-08-13
SuSE SuSE-SA:2002:031 2002-08-30
Gentoo glibc-20020905 2002-09-05
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:061 2002-09-23
Debian DSA-149-2 2002-09-26
Gentoo dietlibc-20020927 2002-09-27
Gentoo glibc-20020927 2002-09-27
EnGarde ESA-20021003-021 2002-10-03
Trustix 2002-0070 2002-10-17
Conectiva CLA-2002:535 2002-10-29
Debian DSA-333-1 2003-06-27

Comments (none posted)

glibc: DNS stub resolvers contain buffer overflow vulnerability

Package(s):glibc CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1146
Created:November 7, 2002 Updated:February 5, 2004
Description: DNS stub resolvers from multiple vendors contain a buffer overflow vulnerability. The impact of this vulnerability appears to be limited to denial of service. (See CERT Vulnerability Note VU#738331)

The BIND 4 and BIND 8.2.x stub resolver libraries, and other libraries such as glibc 2.2.5 and earlier, libc, and libresolv, uses the maximum buffer size instead of the actual size when processing a DNS response, which causes the stub resolvers to read past the actual boundary ("read buffer overflow"), allowing remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash).

Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2002:197-06 2002-10-03
Red Hat RHSA-2002:197-09 2002-11-06
Mandrake MDKSA-2004:009 2004-02-04

Comments (none posted)

gnupg: key validation

Package(s):gnupg CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0255
Created:May 15, 2003 Updated:November 17, 2003
Description: A key validation bug was discovered in the GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) which would cause keys with more then one user ID to trust all user ID's with the amount of trust given to the most-valid user ID.
Alerts:
EnGarde ESA-20030515-016 2003-05-15
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2003.029 2003-05-16
Gentoo 200305-04 2003-05-16
Red Hat RHSA-2003:175-01 2003-05-20
Slackware ssa:2003-141-04 2003-05-22
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:061 2003-05-22
Yellow Dog YDU-20030602-4 2003-06-02
Conectiva CLA-2003:694 2003-07-11
SCO Group CSSA-2003-034.0 2003-11-17

Comments (none posted)

gtkhtml: malformed messages cause crash

Package(s):gtkhtml CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0133 CAN-2003-0541
Created:April 14, 2003 Updated:April 18, 2005
Description: GtkHTML is the HTML rendering widget used by the Evolution mail reader.

GtkHTML supplied with versions of Evolution prior to 1.2.4 contain a bug when handling HTML messages. Alan Cox discovered that certain malformed messages could cause the Evolution mail component to crash.

Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:126-01 2003-04-14
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:046 2003-04-15
Red Hat RHSA-2003:264-01 2003-09-09
Conectiva CLA-2003:737 2003-09-12
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:093 2003-09-18
Debian DSA-710-1 2005-04-18

Comments (none posted)

IMP - SQL injection vulnerability

Package(s):imp CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0025
Created:January 15, 2003 Updated:July 8, 2003
Description: The IMP IMAP server, versions 2.2.8 and prior, is vulnerable to SQL injection; see this advisory for details. Version 3.x is not vulnerable to this problem.
Alerts:
Debian DSA-229-2 2003-01-15
SuSE SuSE-SA:2003:0008 2003-02-18
Conectiva CLA-2003:690 2003-07-08

Comments (1 posted)

kde: arbitrary code execution

Package(s):kde CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0204
Created:April 10, 2003 Updated:June 30, 2003
Description: The KDE Security team has issued an advisory on a vulnerability present in all versions of KDE that allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands under your account. KDE 3.0.5b and KDE 3.1.1a have been released to address this problem. For KDE 2.2.2 patches to the KDE 2.2.2 sources have been made available.

KDE uses Ghostscript software for processing of PostScript (PS) and PDF files in a way that allows for the execution of arbitrary commands that can be contained in such files.

An attacker can prepare a malicious PostScript or PDF file which will provide the attacker with access to the victim's account and privileges when the victim opens this malicious file for viewing or when the victim browses a directory containing such malicious file and has file previews enabled.

An attacker can provide malicious files remotely to a victim in an e-mail, as part of a webpage, via an ftp server and possible other means.

Alerts:
Gentoo 200304-04 2003-04-10
Gentoo 200304-05 2003-04-11
Debian DSA-284-1 2003-04-12
Sorcerer SORCERER2003-04-12 2003-04-12
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:049 2003-04-17
Slackware sl-1050682024 2003-04-18
Debian DSA-293-1 2003-04-23
SuSE SuSE-SA:2003:0026 2003-04-24
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:049-1 2003-04-24
Debian DSA-296-1 2003-04-30
Red Hat RHSA-2003:002-01 2003-05-12
Conectiva CLA-2003:668 2003-06-30

Comments (none posted)

kernel - ptrace-related vulnerability

Package(s):kernel CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0127
Created:March 17, 2003 Updated:June 30, 2003
Description: Versions 2.2.x and 2.4.x of the Linux kernel contain a vulnerability in ptrace() which may be exploited by a local user to obtain root access. This announcement contains the details and a patch for 2.4.20. For 2.2 users, 2.2.25 has been released which contains the fix.
Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:098-00 2003-03-17
Trustix 2003-0007 2003-03-18
EnGarde ESA-20030318-009 2003-03-18
Red Hat RHSA-2003:088-01 2003-03-20
Sorcerer SORCERER2003-03-19 2003-03-20
Gentoo 200303-17 2003-03-21
SuSE SuSE-SA:2003:021 2003-03-25
Debian DSA-270-1 2003-03-27
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:038 2003-03-27
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:039 2003-03-27
Debian DSA-276-1 2003-04-03
Conectiva CLA-2003:618 2003-04-07
Red Hat RHSA-2003:135-00 2003-04-08
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:038-1 2003-04-09
SCO Group CSSA-2003-020.0 2003-05-09
Red Hat RHSA-2003:098-03 2003-06-02
Debian DSA-332-1 2003-06-27
Debian DSA-336-1 2003-06-29
Debian DSA-336-2 2003-06-29

Comments (none posted)

kernel 2.4 - two new vulnerabilities

Package(s):kernel CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0244 CAN-2003-0246
Created:May 14, 2003 Updated:July 25, 2003
Description: The 2.4.20 (and prior) kernel contains a couple of vulnerabilities that are worth fixing.
  • The ioperm() system call doesn't perform proper checking, allowing a local user to manipulate arbitrary I/O ports.

  • The networking code contains a remotely exploitable denial of service condition; see the May 24 Security Page for details.

Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:172-00 2003-05-14
EnGarde ESA-20030515-017 2003-05-15
Red Hat RHSA-2003:145-01 2003-05-27
Red Hat RHSA-2003:187-01 2003-06-03
Debian DSA-311-1 2003-06-08
Debian DSA-312-1 2003-06-09
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:066 2003-06-11
Slackware SSA:2003-168-01 2003-06-17
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:074 2003-07-15
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:066-1 2003-07-21
Conectiva CLA-2003:701 2003-07-22
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:066-2 2003-07-25

Comments (2 posted)

kernel-utils: setuid vulnerability

Package(s):kernel-utils CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0019
Created:February 7, 2003 Updated:January 21, 2005
Description: The kernel-utils package contains several utilities that can be used to control the kernel or machine hardware. In Red Hat Linux 8.0 this package contains user mode linux (UML) utilities.

The uml_net utility in kernel-utils packages with Red Hat Linux 8.0 was incorrectly shipped setuid root. This could allow local users to control certain network interfaces, add and remove arp entries and routes, and put interfaces in and out of promiscuous mode.

All users of the kernel-utils package should update to these packages that contain a version of uml_net that is not setuid root.

Alternatively, as a work-around to this vulnerability issue the following command as root:

chmod -s /usr/bin/uml_net

Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:056-08 2003-02-07

Comments (none posted)

kon2: buffer overflow allows local users to obtain root privileges

Package(s):kon2 CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1155
Created:June 3, 2003 Updated:June 16, 2003
Description: KON is a Kanji emulator for the console. There is a buffer overflow vulnerability in the command line parsing code portion of the kon program up to and including version 0.3.9b. This vulnerability, if appropriately exploited, can lead to local users being able to gain elevated (root) privileges.
Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:047-01 2003-06-03
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:064 2003-06-05
Gentoo 200306-07 2003-06-14

Comments (none posted)

kopete: vulnerabiliy in GnuPG plugin

Package(s):kopete CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0256
Created:May 8, 2003 Updated:June 27, 2003
Description: A vulnerability was discovered in versions of kopete prior to 0.6.2. Kopete is a KDE instant messenger client. This vulnerabiliy is in the GnuPG plugin that allows for users to send each other GPG-encrypted instant messages. The plugin passes encrypted messages to gpg, but does no checking to sanitize the commandline passed to gpg. This can allow remote users to execute arbitrary code, with the permissions of the user running kopete, on the local system.
Alerts:
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:055 2003-05-08
Gentoo 200305-03 2003-05-14
Conectiva CLA-2003:665 2003-06-27

Comments (none posted)

libpng, libpng3: buffer overflow

Package(s):libpng, libpng3 CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1363
Created:December 19, 2002 Updated:July 14, 2004
Description: Glenn Randers-Pehrson discovered a problem in connection with 16-bit samples from libpng, an interface for reading and writing PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format files. The starting offsets for the loops are calculated incorrectly which causes a buffer overrun beyond the beginning of the row buffer.
Alerts:
Debian DSA-213-1 2002-12-19
Red Hat RHSA-2003:006-06 2003-01-09
SuSE SuSE-SA:2003:0004 2003-01-14
Yellow Dog YDU-20030114-2 2002-01-14
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2003.001 2003-01-15
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:008 2003-01-20
Conectiva CLA-2003:564 2003-01-23
Red Hat RHSA-2004:249-01 2004-06-18
Fedora FEDORA-2004-173 2004-06-18
Fedora FEDORA-2004-175 2004-06-18
Fedora FEDORA-2004-174 2004-06-18
Fedora FEDORA-2004-176 2004-06-18
Whitebox WBSA-2004:249-01 2004-06-21
Mandrake MDKSA-2004:063 2004-06-29
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2004.030 2004-07-06
Gentoo 200407-06 2004-07-08

Comments (none posted)

lv: privilege escalation

Package(s):lv CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0188
Created:May 15, 2003 Updated:June 4, 2003
Description: Leonard Stiles discovered that lv, a multilingual file viewer, would read options from a configuration file in the current directory. Because such a file could be placed there by a malicious user, and lv configuration options can be used to execute commands, this represented a security vulnerability. An attacker could gain the privileges of the user invoking lv, including root.
Alerts:
Debian DSA-304-1 2003-05-15
Red Hat RHSA-2003:169-01 2003-05-16
Gentoo 200305-07 2003-05-19
Yellow Dog YDU-20030602-6 2003-06-02

Comments (none posted)

lynx: CRLF injection vulnerability

Package(s):lynx CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1405
Created:November 19, 2002 Updated:October 1, 2003
Description: If lynx is given a url with some special characters on the command line, it will include faked headers in the HTTP query. This feature can be used to force scripts (that use Lynx for downloading files) to access the wrong site on a web server with multiple virtual hosts.

CAN-2002-1405

Alerts:
SCO Group CSSA-2002-049.0 2002-11-18
Debian DSA-210-1 2002-12-13
Trustix 2002-0085 2002-12-19
Red Hat RHSA-2003:029-06 2003-02-12
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2003.011 2003-02-18
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:023 2003-02-24
Conectiva CLA-2003:720 2003-08-11

Comments (none posted)

Nessus NASL scripting engine security issues

Package(s):nessus CVE #(s):
Created:May 27, 2003 Updated:August 12, 2004
Description: Some some vulnerabilities exsist in the Nessus NASL scripting engine. To exploit these flaws, an attacker would need to have a valid Nessus account as well as the ability to upload arbitrary Nessus plugins in the Nessus server (this option is disabled by default) or he/she would need to trick a user somehow into running a specially crafted nasl script. Read the full advisory for additional information.
Alerts:
Gentoo 200305-10 2003-05-27

Comments (none posted)

net-snmp: denial of service vulnerability

Package(s):net-snmp CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1170
Created:December 17, 2002 Updated:November 7, 2003
Description: The SNMP daemon included in the Net-SNMP package versions 5.0.1 through 5.0.4 can be caused to crash if it is sent a specially crafted packet.
Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2002:228-11 2002-12-17
Conectiva CLA-2003:778 2003-11-07

Comments (none posted)

nethack: buffer overflow

Package(s):nethack, slashem, falconseye CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0358 CAN-2003-0359
Created:February 18, 2003 Updated:July 15, 2003
Description: Overflowing a buffer in nethack may lead to privilege escalation to games uid.

Read the the full advisory for the details.

Note that falconseye does not contain the file permission error CAN-2003-0359 which affected some other nethack packages.

Alerts:
Gentoo 200302-08 2003-02-18
Debian DSA-316-1 2003-06-11
Debian DSA-316-2 2003-06-11
Debian DSA-316-3 2003-06-17
Debian DSA-350-1 2003-07-15

Comments (none posted)

netscape-flash: buffer overflow

Package(s):netscape-flash CVE #(s):
Created:March 10, 2003 Updated:June 20, 2003
Description: Potentially exploitable buffer overflows exist in the Macromedia Flash Player. The full advisory is here. "The cumulative security patch is available today and addresses the potential for exploits surrounding buffer overflows (read/write) and sandbox integrity within the player, which might allow malicious users to gain access to a user's computer. The possibility of running native code on a users machine is a theoretical exploit, and extremely difficult to execute in practice. There are no known examples of running such native code from Macromedia Flash movies; however, even though this issue is difficult and theoretical in nature only, we are encouraging users to upgrade."
Alerts:
Gentoo 200303-9 2003-03-09
Red Hat RHSA-2003:026-01 2003-06-20

Comments (none posted)

openssh: timing attack leads to information disclosure

Package(s):openssh CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0190
Created:May 2, 2003 Updated:November 30, 2004
Description: From the advisory: "During a pen-test we stumbled across a nasty bug in OpenSSH-portable with PAM support enabled (via the --with-pam configure script switch). This bug allows a remote attacker to identify valid users on vulnerable systems, through a simple timing attack. The vulnerability is easy to exploit and may have high severity, if combined with poor password policies and other security problems that allow local privilege escalation."
Alerts:
Gentoo 200305-01 2002-03-05
Gentoo 200305-02 2003-05-13
Red Hat RHSA-2003:222-01 2003-07-29
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2003.035 2003-08-06
Ubuntu USN-34-1 2004-11-30

Comments (1 posted)

pam_xauth: root exploit

Package(s):pam_xauth CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1160
Created:February 13, 2003 Updated:July 10, 2003
Description: The pam_xauth module is used to forward xauth information from user to user in applications such as 'su'.

Andreas Beck discovered that versions of pam_xauth supplied with Red Hat Linux since version 7.1 would forward authorization information from the root account to unprivileged users. This could be used by a local attacker to gain access to an administrator's X session. In order to exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would have to get the administrator, as root, to use su to the account belonging to the attacker.

Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:035-10 2003-02-12
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:017-1 2003-04-28
Conectiva CLA-2003:693 2003-07-10

Comments (none posted)

PHP: vulnerability in mail function

Package(s):php CVE #(s):CAN-2002-0985 CAN-2002-0986
Created:November 13, 2002 Updated:October 1, 2003
Description: Two vulnerabilities exists in the mail() PHP function. The first one allows the execution of any program/script bypassing safe_mode restriction, the second one may give an open-relay script if the mail() function is not carefully used in PHP scripts. See this Bugtraq report for more details. Note that this is a different vulnerability than the previous PHP mail() problem, which affected versions through 4.1.0.

CAN-2002-0985
CAN-2002-0986

Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2002:213-06 2002-11-11
Conectiva CLA-2002:545 2002-11-13
EnGarde ESA-20021122-031 2002-11-22
Gentoo 200211-005 2002-11-20
SCO Group CSSA-2003-008.0 2003-03-04

Comments (none posted)

PostgreSQL - more buffer overflows

Package(s):postgresql CVE #(s):
Created:February 12, 2003 Updated:November 7, 2003
Description: A new set of buffer overflows has been discovered in PostgreSQL 7.2.2; they affect the circle_poly(), path_encode(), and path_addr() functions. Exploiting these overflows requires that the attacker first obtain a connection to the PostgreSQL server.
Alerts:
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:062-1 2003-02-11
Trustix 2003-0004 2003-02-20
Immunix IMNX-2003-7+-005-01 2003-04-08
Debian DSA-397-1 2003-11-07

Comments (1 posted)

PoPTop: remotely exploitable buffer overflow

Package(s):pptpd CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0213
Created:April 28, 2003 Updated:June 6, 2003
Description: The PoPToP PPTP server contains a remotely exploitable buffer overflow; read the full advisory for more information.
Alerts:
Gentoo 200304-08 2003-04-28
Debian DSA-295-1 2003-04-30
SuSE SuSE-SA:2003:029 2003-06-06

Comments (none posted)

Local arbitrary code execution vulnerability in Python

Package(s):python CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1119
Created:August 28, 2002 Updated:October 1, 2003
Description: Zack Weinberg discovered that os._execvpe from os.py uses a predictable name which could lead to execution of arbitrary code. According to the Debian advisory, the problem was present in Python versions 1.5, 2.1 and 2.2.

CAN-2002-1119

Alerts:
Debian DSA-159-1 2002-08-28
Debian DSA-159-2 2002-09-09
Conectiva CLA-2002:527 2002-10-01
Gentoo python-20021003 2002-10-03
Trustix 2002-0073 2002-10-17
SCO Group CSSA-2002-045.0 2002-11-14
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:082 2002-11-25
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:082-1 2002-12-09
Red Hat RHSA-2002:202-25 2003-01-21
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2003.006 2003-01-23
Red Hat RHSA-2002:202-33 2003-02-12

Comments (none posted)

squirrelmail: more cross-site scripting vulnerabilities

Package(s):squirrelmail CVE #(s):CAN-2003-0160
Created:April 24, 2003 Updated:June 4, 2003
Description: SquirrelMail is a webmail package written in PHP. Multiple vulnerabilities have been found which affect versions of SquirrelMail shipped with Red Hat Linux 8.0 and Red Hat Linux 9.

Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities in SquirrelMail version 1.2.10 and earlier allow remote attackers to execute script as other Web users via mailbox displays, message displays, or search results displays. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0160 to these issues.

All users are advised to upgrade to these errata packages containing SquirrelMail version 1.2.11, which is not vulnerable to these issues.

Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2003:112-01 2003-04-24
Yellow Dog YDU-20030602-2 2003-06-02

Comments (none posted)

File overwrite vulnerability in tar and unzip

Package(s):tar unzip CVE #(s):CAN-2001-1267 CAN-2001-1268 CAN-2001-1269 CAN-2002-0399
Created:October 1, 2002 Updated:April 9, 2006
Description: The tar utility does not properly filter file names containing "../", meaning that a hostile archive can, if unpacked by an unsuspecting user, overwrite any file that is writable by that user. GNU tar versions 1.13.19 and earlier are vulnerable; unzip through version 5.42 has the same vulnerability.
Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2002:096-24 2002-09-18
Gentoo tar-20021001 2002-10-01
Gentoo unzip-20021001 2002-10-01
EnGarde ESA-20021003-022 2002-10-03
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:065 2002-10-10
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:066 2002-10-10
Conectiva CLA-2002:538 2002-10-29
Red Hat RHSA-2006:0195-01 2006-02-21
Fedora-Legacy FLSA:183571-1 2006-04-04

Comments (1 posted)

Multiple vendor telnetd vulnerability

Package(s):telnet Telnet netkit-telnet-ssl kerberos telnetd netkit-telnet nkitb/nkitserv/telnetd krb5 CVE #(s):
Created:May 21, 2002 Updated:October 5, 2004
Description: This vulnerability, originally thought to be confined to BSD-derived systems, was first covered in the July 26th Security Summary. It is now known that Linux telnet daemons are vulnerable as well.
Alerts:
SCO Group CSSA-2001-030.0 2001-08-10
Conectiva CLA-2001:413 2001-08-24
Debian DSA-075-1 2001-08-14
Debian DSA-075-2 2001-08-14
HP HPSBTL0202-023 2002-02-12
Mandrake MDKSA-2001:068 2001-08-13
Mandrake MDKSA-2001:093 2001-12-17
Progeny PROGENY-SA-2001-27 2001-08-14
Red Hat RHSA-2001:099-06 2001-08-09
Red Hat RHSA-2001:099-09 2002-02-07
Red Hat RHSA-2001:100-02 2001-08-09
Slackware sl-997726350 2001-08-09
SuSE SuSE-SA:2001:029 2001-09-03
Yellow Dog YDU-20010810-1 2001-08-10
Yellow Dog YDU-20010810-2 2001-08-10
Gentoo 200410-03 2004-10-05

Comments (none posted)

tomcat: insecure directory mode

Package(s):tomcat CVE #(s):
Created:June 2, 2003 Updated:June 3, 2003
Description: Versions prior to tomcat-4.1.24 created /opt/tomcat with a directory mode which allowed users to access files containing passwords.
Alerts:
Gentoo 200306-01 2003-06-01

Comments (none posted)

typespeed: buffer overflow

Package(s):typespeed CVE #(s):
Created:January 1, 2003 Updated:June 17, 2003
Description: A problem has been discovered in the typespeed, a game that lets you measure your typematic speed. By overflowing a buffer a local attacker could execute arbitrary commands under the group id games.
Alerts:
Debian DSA-217-1 2002-12-27
Debian DSA-322-1 2003-06-16

Comments (none posted)

uw-imapd: vulnerabilities in IMAP clients written with C and C++

Package(s):uw-imapd CVE #(s):
Created:June 2, 2003 Updated:June 3, 2003
Description: There are two common vulnerabilities in IMAP clients written with C and C++:

1. Handling huge literal sizes. Many clients do malloc(literal_size+1) and then read the literal into it. Problem is that if literal_size is UINT_MAX-1, the +1 overflows it into malloc(0) but server is still allowed to write UINT_MAX-1 bytes of data there. There may also be similiar problems if literal size is read into signed integer which causes it to become negative. Some clients use atoi(), so giving -1 as literal size is equilevant to giving UINT_MAX-1.

IMAP servers can also be vulnerable to this one if they're not careful.

2. Handling huge mailbox sizes (ie. huge value in EXISTS reply). Many clients do malloc(messages_count * sizeof(struct message)) and read data into it.

Read the full advisory for more information.

Alerts:
Gentoo 200305-12 2003-06-01

Comments (none posted)

vim - modeline vulnerability

Package(s):vim CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1377
Created:January 16, 2003 Updated:February 10, 2004
Description: VIM allows a user to set the modeline differently for each edited text file by placing special comments in the files. Georgi Guninski found that these comments can be carefully crafted in order to call external programs. This could allow an attacker to create a text file such that when it is opened arbitrary commands are executed.
Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2002:297-17 2003-01-15
OpenPKG OpenPKG-SA-2003.003 2003-01-21
Gentoo 200301-13 2003-01-22
Yellow Dog YDU-20030127-3 2003-01-27
Mandrake MDKSA-2003:012 2003-02-03
Conectiva CLA-2004:812 2004-02-10

Comments (4 posted)

vixie-cron: Local vulnerability

Package(s):vixie-cron CVE #(s):CVE-2001-0559
Created:April 17, 2003 Updated:October 3, 2003
Description: From the ISS advisory: "Vixie Cron is a scheduling daemon that ships with several Linux distributions. Vixie Cron version 3.0pl1 could allow a local attacker to gain root privileges. Crontab fails to properly drop privileges in certain cases after a crontab modification operation. A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability to gain root privileges on the system since crontab is installed setuid root."

Note: this vulnerability is dated May 07 2001, and was first mentioned in LWN on the May 10, 2001 security page.

Alerts:
Conectiva CLA-2003:628 2003-04-17
Conectiva CLA-2003:757 2003-10-03
Conectiva CLA-2003:758 2003-10-03

Comments (none posted)

wget:directory traversal bug

Package(s):wget CVE #(s):CAN-2002-1344
Created:December 10, 2002 Updated:October 1, 2003
Description: Versions of wget prior to 1.8.2-4 contain a bug that permits a malicious FTP server to create or overwrite files anywhere on the local file system.

FTP clients must check to see if an FTP server's response to the NLST command includes any directory information along with the list of filenames required by the FTP protocol (RFC 959, section 4.1.3).

If the FTP client fails to do so, a malicious FTP server can send filenames beginning with '/' or containing '/../' which can be used to direct a vulnerable FTP client to write files (such as .forward, .rhosts, .shosts, etc.) that can then be used for later attacks against the client machine.

See also this Bugtraq article from 1997.

CAN-2002-1344

Alerts:
Red Hat RHSA-2002:229-10 2002-12-04
Mandrake MDKSA-2002:086