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LWN.net Weekly Edition for July 17, 2003
RFCs - insufficiently free?
Debian bug 92810 has the distinction of being one of the oldest release-critical bugs in the entire distribution. It was first reported on April 3, 2001, and has been the subject of occasional debate for over two years. Its resolution at the end of June, 2003 has left few people happy. Bug 92810, it seems, embodies an issue which remains unresolved in the free software community: how documentation should be licensed.The issue at hand is how the Internet Society Request For Comments (RFC) documents are licensed. The RFCs are the core of the design of the Internet; they are the standards the describe the protocols, formats, algorithms, and conventions that make the net work. There are RFCs covering everything from the basic network protocols (i.e. for IP and TCP), email headers (RFC 2822) and HTML (RFC 1866) to netiquette (RFC 1855), avian datagram protocols (RFC 1149), and the Y10K problem (RFC 2550). Without the RFC series, the standards-based, interoperable Internet would not exist.
For anybody implementing or otherwise working with a network protocol, the relevant RFCs are required reading. So it is not surprising that a project like Debian would package up the RFC collection and include it with its distribution. The doc-rfc package is useful for Debian developers and its presence would not be questioned, except for a bit of a licensing problem. RFCs, it turns out, are required to carry a specific copyright notice (as specified in RFC 2223) which includes the following text:
This license, of course, does not allow the free creation of derived versions of the RFCs except in certain circumstances. That restriction violates the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). Most distributors would not be overly concerned about this problem; the license does allow them to distribute the RFC collection, after all. But the Debian Project takes its social contract seriously, and that contract requires that the distribution be "100% free software." Since the RFCs do not meet the DFSG (though there is not a complete consensus on that point), they have been evicted from the Debian distribution. Debian users wanting to install the doc-rfc package will have to look for it in the non-free area.
To many, Debian's uncompromising stance on licensing seems like a pedantic exercise carried out by people with nothing better to do with their time. But Debian is serving an important role in the community by serving as its conscience and early warning system. As recent events have shown, licensing is important. Every set of bits comes with its own copyright and its own restrictions. Failure to pay attention to those restrictions can lead to unwanted contact with lawyers, and is best avoided. Debian's high sensitivity to licensing problems brings those problems out into the open before somebody gets burned, and often leads to licensing changes which make the problems go away. Even when nothing changes, the Debian process points out where the open issues are.
The open issue in this case is that there is still no consensus on what free licensing means when applied to documentation. As a general rule, those who write text tend to want to maintain more control over their works than those to write code. Consider, for example, the Free Software Foundation's Free Documentation License, which includes a vast number of restrictions on modification and redistribution. (Debian, incidentally, is the group that has done the most to point out the non-free aspects of the FDL).
The Internet Society wants to retain enough control so that copies of a particular standard (and that's what the RFCs are) reflect the standard. A modified version of an RFC no longer reflects the standard, so such modifications are not allowed. The motivation is understandable and reasonable, but there is an important question which must be kept in mind. What happens if, sometime in the future, the Internet Society is coopted over to the Dark Side and starts moving the network standards in a proprietary or repressive direction? With the current licensing, there is no right to fork the RFCs and attempt to maintain a free, interoperable net. The RFC collection, thus, is truly not free. This result is almost certainly not what the Internet Society had in mind when it adopted its copyright notice, but that is the way it has turned out.
Five years or so ago, new software releases often were accompanied by new, one-off licenses that, as often as not, turned out to not be free. In more recent times, a relatively small set of well-known licenses has been adopted by most developers. Documentation, however, remains in the "roll your own license" stage. With luck, this area, too, will soon evolve toward a reasonable set of truly free licenses which reflect the needs and interests of writers.
Graphics programs for Linux
[This article was contributed by Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]
With the 1.0 release of Scribus this week, we thought we'd take a look at the state of open source graphics applications. There's a wide variety of these applications, and they are rapidly maturing, though maybe not quite as quickly as some might like. The most popular, and most mature in terms of features and polish, open source graphics application is The GNU Image Manipulation Program, better known as the GIMP. For those who are unfamiliar with the GIMP, it's very similar to Adobe Photoshop in nature, and offers much of the functionality of Photoshop though it still lacks some features that make Photoshop attractive to folks working with high-quality print publications. The GIMP has been around for quite some time, but the open source community has lacked a full-featured desktop publishing (DTP) programs like QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign or PageMaker, Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw.
The 1.0 release of Scribus may help fill
that gap. While it still needs
some work, Scribus is similar to Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. Unlike
Quark or InDesign, though, Scribus is available under the GNU GPL and
runs on Linux. I've tried Scribus on and off for some time now, and it
definitely shows promise. After downloading the 1.0 release, I was
impressed by how far Scribus has come in a fairly short time. It offers
![[Scribus screenshot]](/images/ns/scribus_shot_thumb.jpg)
all the features you'd need to produce a decent company newsletter or
flyer, allows you to prepare a document for printing or convert to PDF
for electronic publishing. Scribus saves documents in an XML-type
format, and can export projects to PDF, Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)
and/or Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format.
There are a few glitches; some of the tools don't act quite as you might expect, and there are a few features that you'd definitely want in desktop publishing application that aren't in Scribus just yet. For example, the "text chain" feature doesn't seem to work predictably, and it doesn't seem possible to create a text box with multiple columns for text. But, a few shortcomings aside, Scribus is definitely a boon for folks who want to see Linux succeed on the desktop. While it may not be perfect, it should be good enough to attract a strong audience that will help to see it move forward in much the same way the GIMP has over the years.
Sodipodi is vector-based drawing application that looks very promising. Sodipodi is similar to Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw, though it's not quite in the same league as those applications just yet. Judging by the images in the Sodipodi gallery, however, it has plenty to offer. Right now, Sodipodi is at the 0.32 release. It has quite a few features, and it's very usable, but it still needs to mature a bit before it's ready for "prime time." For example, Sodipodi only saves in the SVG format, and exports to PNG. It doesn't handle EPS or PDF right now, though EPS is on the tasks list. However, it has a full enough feature set, and is stable enough, that it can be used to create some really nice graphics.
Another GPL'ed Illustrator-like application that's been coming along nicely is Sketch. Sketch is also at a very usable stage, though it, too, has a ways to go before it will give Illustrator a run for its money. Like Sodipodi and Scribus, Sketch seems to be maturing at a fairly steady pace. Sketch is implemented mostly in Python, and is very stable. Sketch does write to EPS and Adobe Illustrator format, and reads XFig files, Adobe Illustrator files, Corel CMX, SVG and its own format, though it lacks support for TrueType fonts which may be a drawback for some users.
If you're interested in older graphics apps for Linux, there's Xfig. Xfig has quite a few features, though it doesn't seem to be under active development and it isn't the most user-friendly application.
OpenOffice.org's Draw is a suitable replacement for applications like Microsoft Publisher. It doesn't do all the fancy text-wrangling and so-forth that you'll find in Sodipodi or Scribus, but it's a nice and simple application for folks who want to create a office flyer, flowcharts and similar projects. Dia is another good application for producing diagrams for print or electronic publishing.
If your tastes are a little more simple, there are a few apps that are aimed at less complex projects. KPaint is a straightforward application that can be used to create very simple graphics, much like the Microsoft Windows Paint program. For those looking for programs for small kids, Tux Paint is a kid-oriented drawing program with a simple interface, sound effects and a restricted file interface that prevents users from accessing the host filesystem. As much as professional-quality graphics apps are necessary for Linux to succeed on the desktop, the low-end graphics apps need to be there as well. After all, who would want to deny their five-year-old the ability to mouse around and create pictures to e-mail to grandma?
The good news is that Linux graphics applications are starting to mature to the point that they're suitable for a fair range of uses. They're certainly good enough for home use, creating Web graphics and low-end DTP. The bad news is that open source graphics apps still need some work before they'll be ready to replace programs like QuarkXPress or Adobe Illustrator. Given enough attention, though, open source graphics applications could start finding their way into professional publishing houses within a few years.
SCO insider trading watch
Things have been relatively quiet on the SCO front recently; one gets the sense that, perhaps, the company's lawyers were finally able to convince management that a bit of discretion might be helpful. Silence does not mean that nothing is going on, however. Among other things, SCO's executives continue to slowly cash in their stock to take advantage of its current, inflated price. Here's the latest insider trading roundup:
| Who | Role | Shares | Income | Filings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinder Bawa | VP Global Services | 22,916 | $142,200 | 1 |
| Robert Bench | CFO | 25,100 | $174,100 | 1, 2, 3 |
| Reginald Charles Broughton | VP International Sales | 15,000 | $161,600 | 1, 2, 3 |
| Jeff Hunsaker | VP Worldwide Marketing | 10,000 | $103,500 | 1, 2 |
| Michael Olson | VP Finance | 14,000 | $135,900 | 1, 2 |
| Michael Sean Wilson | VP Corporate Development | 6000 | $64,800 | 1 |
That's a total of 93,000 shares sold since the suit was filed, for a net of $782,000. This sum is a small down payment on the bonanza that SCO hopes to eventually enjoy as a result of its actions. The big payoff may remain in the future, but one could understand if even the most confident SCO executive feels the need to collect a little now, on the off chance that things fail to go as planned.
It's worth noting that Opinder Bawa has quietly left the company, shortly after selling all shares in his possession.
Finally, it has emerged that - as many had speculated - the "mystery licensee" is none other than Sun Microsystems. The Unix license purchased by Sun came with a nice bonus: an option to buy 210,000 shares of SCO stock for $1.83 per share. Neither company has yet made any statements about why things were done this way. Most software license agreements do not include stock options, after all. A high level of paranoia is not yet called for, but it is natural to wonder just what Sun is up to here.
Conference season
The Ottawa Linux Symposium will be held July 23 to 26 in the Ottawa Conference Center. As always, OLS looks to be a strong, technical conference with a special emphasis on kernel development. Once again, LWN editor Jonathan Corbet will be there; be sure to get up early (10:00 AM) on Wednesday to catch his talk on driver porting.OLS will be preceeded by a two-day kernel developers' summit, same as last year. The draft agenda includes a number of VM topics, "killing off devfs," power management, SCSI, asynchronous I/O, and numerous other topics. Once again, stay tuned to LWN for information from the meeting.
The LinuxWorld Conference and Expo takes place August 4 to 7 in San Francisco. LWN hasn't made it to LinuxWorld for a little bit, so we are pleased to note that Rebecca Sobol will be there this time around. It will be nice to be back.
Page editor: Jonathan Corbet
Security
Security news
Decreased security through monitoring
Worth a read: this Cringely column on electronic eavesdropping. The "Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act" (CALEA), passed in the mid 1990's, requires telecommunications providers to make life easy for law enforcement agencies wanting to listen to phone conversations. Apparently, the implementation of CALEA is not all that one might wish for:
CALEA systems have, according to Cringely, been hacked into by numerous bad guys, both domestic and foreign.
CALEA can be seen as a classic example of a bad governmental project gone worse, and as a dark omen of what the "total information awareness" system could bring. But there is a wider lesson here as well. Many organizations put monitoring capabilities into their networks as part of their security and policy enforcement operations. This monitoring can be performed by web proxies, mailers, intrusion detection systems, outsourced security services, and so on. Knowing what is happening on a network can be most helpful in keeping that network secure, but it is always worth remembering that these monitoring capabilities can be turned against you. Before putting in a facility that watches what you and your users are doing, it's worth putting some thought into how that facility will be secured and what could happen if it is compromised. Sometimes it might be better to watch a bit less.
New vulnerabilities
apache: multiple vulnerabilities in Apache HTTP server
| Package(s): | apache | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0192 CAN-2003-0253 CAN-2003-0254 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Created: | July 11, 2003 | Updated: | September 22, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Description: | The Apache Software Foundation and
the Apache HTTP Server Project have announced
the release of the Apache HTTP Server 2.0.47. This release fixes four
security vulnerabilities:
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| Alerts: |
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Mozilla: heap-based buffer overflow in Mozilla-based browsers
| Package(s): | Mozilla | CVE #(s): | CAN-2002-1308 | ||||||
| Created: | July 15, 2003 | Updated: | July 21, 2003 | ||||||
| Description: | A heap-based buffer overflow in Netscape and Mozilla allows remote
attackers to execute arbitrary code via a jar: URL referencing a
malformed .jar file, which overflows a buffer during decompression.
This has been fixed in Mozilla 1.0.2. | ||||||||
| Alerts: |
| ||||||||
mpg123 - buffer overflow
| Package(s): | mpg123 | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0577 | |||||||||
| Created: | July 16, 2003 | Updated: | September 30, 2003 | |||||||||
| Description: | The mpg123 utility contains a buffer overflow vulnerability which can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code by way of a malicious MP3 file. | |||||||||||
| Alerts: |
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nfs-utils xlog() off-by-one bug
| Package(s): | nfs-utils | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0252 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Created: | July 14, 2003 | Updated: | March 8, 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Description: | Linux NFS utils package contains remotely exploitable off-by-one bug. A local or remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending specially crafted request to rpc.mountd daemon. See this BugTraq post for more details. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alerts: |
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phpgroupware - cross-site scripting and other exploits
| Package(s): | phpgroupware | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0504 CAN-2003-0582 | ||||||||||||
| Created: | July 16, 2003 | Updated: | October 1, 2003 | ||||||||||||
| Description: | Several vulnerabilities were discovered in all versions of phpgroupware
prior to 0.9.14.006. This latest version fixes an exploitable condition in
all versions that can be exploited remotely without authentication and can
lead to arbitrary code execution on the web server. This vulnerability is
being actively exploited.
Version 0.9.14.005 fixed several other vulnerabilities including cross-site scripting issues that can be exploited to obtain sensitive information such as authentication cookies. See this Security Corportation report for more information. | ||||||||||||||
| Alerts: |
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traceroute-nanog: integer overflow
| Package(s): | traceroute-nanog | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0453 | |||
| Created: | July 16, 2003 | Updated: | July 16, 2003 | |||
| Description: | There is an integer overflow vulnerability in traceroute-nanog (an enhanced version of traceroute) which may be exploited to execute arbitrary code. | |||||
| Alerts: |
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ucd-snmp - heap overflow
| Package(s): | ucd-snmp | CVE #(s): | ||||
| Created: | July 16, 2003 | Updated: | July 16, 2003 | |||
| Description: | The snmpnetstat tool (part of the ucd-snmp package) contains a heap overflow vulnerability which, when confronted with a hostile server, can be exploited to run arbitrary code. | |||||
| Alerts: |
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Updated vulnerabilities
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: |
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PHP: Cross site scripting vulnerability
| Package(s): | PHP | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0442 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Created: | July 2, 2003 | Updated: | August 13, 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Description: | In PHP version 4.3.1 and earlier, when transparent session ID support is enabled using the "session.use_trans_sid" option, the session ID is not escaped before use. This allows a Cross Site Scripting attack. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alerts: |
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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: |
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Xpdf - command execution vulnerability
| Package(s): | Xpdf | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0434 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Created: | June 18, 2003 | Updated: | July 24, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Description: | Xpdf suffers from the same sort of "execute arbitrary code embedded in a malicious document" vulnerability that is so widespread in other PostScript and PDF interpreters. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alerts: |
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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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alerts: |
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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) | ||||||||||||||
| Alerts: |
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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: |
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ethereal: security problems in Ethereal 0.9.12
| Package(s): | ethereal | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0428 CAN-2003-0429 CAN-2003-0431 CAN-2003-0432 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Created: | June 23, 2003 | Updated: | November 10, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Description: | Several security problems have been found in Ethereal 0.9.12. "It may be possible to make Ethereal crash or run arbitrary code by injecting a purposefully malformed packet onto the wire, or by convincing someone to read a malformed packet trace file." | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Alerts: |
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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: |
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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: |
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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: |
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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: |
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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: |
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gtksee: buffer overflow
| Package(s): | gtksee | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0444 | ||||||
| Created: | June 29, 2003 | Updated: | July 11, 2003 | ||||||
| Description: | Viliam Holub discovered a bug in gtksee whereby, when loading PNG images of certain color depths, gtksee would overflow a heap-allocated buffer. This vulnerability could be exploited by an attacker using a carefully constructed PNG image to execute arbitrary code when the victim loads the file in gtksee. | ||||||||
| Alerts: |
| ||||||||
imagemagick: insecure temporary file
| Package(s): | imagemagick | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0455 | ||||||
| Created: | June 29, 2003 | Updated: | July 10, 2003 | ||||||
| Description: | There are circumstances in which imagemagick's libmagick library creates temporary files without taking appropriate security precautions. This vulnerability could be exploited by a local user to create or overwrite files with the privileges of another user who is invoking a program using this library. | ||||||||
| Alerts: |
| ||||||||
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.
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| Alerts: |
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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: |
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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: |
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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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alerts: |
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mikmod: buffer overflow
| Package(s): | mikmod | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0427 | |||||||||||||||
| Created: | June 16, 2003 | Updated: | June 16, 2005 | |||||||||||||||
| Description: | Ingo Saitz discovered a bug in mikmod whereby a long filename inside an archive file can overflow a buffer when the archive is being read by mikmod. | |||||||||||||||||
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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. | |||||
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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. | ||||||||
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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. | |||||||||||||||||
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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." | |||||||||||||||||
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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. | |||||||||||
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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. | |||||||||||||||||
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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. | ||||||||||||||
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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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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radiusd-cistron: possible remote system compromise
| Package(s): | radiusd-cistron | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0450 | ||||||||||||
| Created: | June 13, 2003 | Updated: | July 11, 2003 | ||||||||||||
| Description: | The package radiusd-cistron is an implementation of the RADIUS protocol. Unfortunately the RADIUS server handles large NAS numbers incorrectly. This leads to overwriting internal memory of the server process and may be abused to gain remote access to the system the RADIUS server is running on. | ||||||||||||||
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semi: insecure temporary file
| Package(s): | semi, wemi | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0440 | ||||||||||||
| Created: | July 7, 2003 | Updated: | October 1, 2003 | ||||||||||||
| Description: | semi, a MIME library for GNU Emacs, does not take appropriate
security precautions when creating temporary files. This bug could
potentially be exploited to overwrite arbitrary files with the
privileges of the user running Emacs and semi, potentially with
contents supplied by the attacker.
wemi is a fork of semi, and contains the same bug. | ||||||||||||||
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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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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tcptraceroute: problems dropping root privileges
| Package(s): | tcptraceroute | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0489 | ||||||
| Created: | June 28, 2003 | Updated: | July 10, 2003 | ||||||
| Description: | tcptraceroute 1.4 and earlier does not fully drop privileges after obtaining a file descriptor for capturing packets. This may allow local users to gain access to the descriptor via a separate vulnerability in tcptraceroute. | ||||||||
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teapop: SQL injection
| Package(s): | teapop | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0515 | ||||||
| Created: | July 9, 2003 | Updated: | October 1, 2003 | ||||||
| Description: | teapop, a POP-3 server, includes modules for authenticating users against a PostgreSQL or MySQL database. These modules do not properly escape user-supplied strings before using them in SQL queries. This vulnerability could be exploited to execute arbitrary SQL under the privileges of the database user as which teapop has authenticated. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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unzip: directory traversal vulnerability
| Package(s): | unzip | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0282 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Created: | July 1, 2003 | Updated: | November 13, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Description: | A vulnerabilitiy in unzip version 5.50 and earlier allows attackers to overwrite arbitrary files during archive extraction by placing invalid (non-printable) characters between two "." characters. These non-printable characters are filtered, resulting in a ".." sequence. See the full advisory for further information. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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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. | |||||||||||
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webmin: session ID spoofing
| Package(s): | webmin | CVE #(s): | CAN-2003-0101 | ||||||
| Created: | June 13, 2003 | Updated: | November 18, 2003 | ||||||
| Description: | miniserv.pl in the webmin package does not properly handle metacharacters, such as line feeds and carriage returns, in Base64-encoded strings used in Basic authentication. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to spoof a session ID, and thereby gain root privileges. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||||||||
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