Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200406-14
Severity: Normal
Title: aspell: Buffer overflow in word-list-compress
Date: June 17, 2004
Bugs: #53389
ID: 200406-14
Synopsis
A bug in the aspell utility word-list-compress can allow an
attacker to execute arbitrary code.
Background
aspell is a popular spell-checker. Dictionaries are available
for many languages.
Affected packages
| Package | Vulnerable | Unaffected |
| 1 app-text/aspell | <= 0.50.5-r1 | >= 0.50.5-r2 |
Description
aspell includes a utility for handling wordlists called
word-list-compress. This utility fails to do proper bounds checking
when processing words longer than 256 bytes.
Impact
If an attacker could entice a user to handle a wordlist
containing very long word lengths it could result in the execution
of arbitrary code with the permissions of the user running the
program.
Workaround
There is no known workaround at this time. All users are
encouraged to upgrade to the latest available version.
Resolution
All users should upgrade to the latest available version of
aspell.
# emerge sync
# emerge -pv ">=app-text/aspell-0.50.5-r2"
# emerge ">=app-text/aspell-0.50.5-r2"
References
[ 1 ] Nettwerked Advisory
http://nettwerked.mg2.org/advisories/wlc
Availability
This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the
Gentoo Security Website:
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200406-14.xml
Concerns?
Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the
confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost
importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to
security@gentoo.org or
alternatively, you may file a bug at http://bugs.gentoo.org.
License
Copyright 2004 Gentoo Technologies, Inc; referenced text belongs
to its owner(s).
The contents of this document are licensed under the Creative
Commons – Attribution / Share Alike license.