O’Reilly Network: Security Alerts: Linux Kernel Problems; SSH Design Flaw

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Feb 14, 2001

“In this column, we look at a system call problem and a race
condition in the Linux kernel; buffer-overflow problems in SSH-1
and XMail; denial-of-service vulnerabilities in BIND 9.0.1 and
ProFTPD; string format problems in man; design flaws in wireless
networking security code; and temporary file problems in FreeBSD’s
sort.”

“Two problems have been reported in the Linux kernel: a problem
with the syctl() system call and a race condition. The sysctl()
system call can be used to read large areas of kernel memory by
passing it a negative offset. The race condition can be used to
modify a running setuid process using ptrace. Both problems have
been fixed in the 2.2.19pre9 kernel.”

“Problems reported this week for SSH (secure shell) include: a
buffer-overflow in version 1 of sshd, a buffer-overflow in the
Kerberos ticket handling code in the SSH AFS/Kerberos v4 patches
for SSH 1.2.2x, and a design flaw in the SSH 1.5 protocol.”

“The BIND 9.1.0 name server can be crashed under certain
conditions by a network scan. The crash is caused by a kernel bug
in the accept() system call. It is unclear which kernels are
affected.”


Complete Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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