SUSE Linux Advisory: gaim

SUSE Security Announcement

Content of this advisory:

1. security vulnerability resolved:
   • two buffer overflows problem description, discussion, solution
     and upgrade information
2. pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds:
   • kernel binaries for SLES8 AMD64
   • mc
   • mod_gzip
   • tripwire
   • XDM (XFree86, xf86)
   • 3ddiag
   • mod_auth_shadow
   • cvsup
   • nmap
   • netpbm
   • zebra
   • quagga
   • tcpdump
   • mod_python
3. standard appendix (further information)

1) problem description, brief discussion, solution, upgrade
information

Gaim is a multi-protocol instant-messaging client. Stefan Esser
found 12 vulnerabilities in gaim that can lead to a remote system
compromise with the privileges of the user running GAIM. The GAIM
package that SUSE LINUX ships is affected by just two of these
bug:

• Yahoo Packet Parser Overflow
• HTTP Proxy Connect Overflow

The first vulnerability is easy to exploit and results in a
classic stack overflow which can be used to execute arbitrary code.
The latter vulnerability requires the gaim client use a HTTP proxy
under the control of the attacker. The exploitation of this bug
results in arbitrary code execution too.

There is no known workaround.

Please download the update package for your distribution and
verify its integrity by the methods listed in section 3) of this
announcement. Then, to apply the update use the command “rpm -Fhv
file.rpm”. Our maintenance customers are being notified
individually. The packages are being offered to install from the
maintenance web.

Intel i386 Platform:

SuSE-9.0:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/9.0/rpm/i586/gaim-0.67-65.i586.rpm
09f8d12dd52e246cf32dca8ad3374f39
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/9.0/rpm/i586/gaim-0.67-65.i586.patch.rpm
3a633e341b9e56facdbe0250b55dd33a
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/9.0/rpm/src/gaim-0.67-65.src.rpm
5ee6a86077c0297a64815532782f7a54

SuSE-8.2:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/gaim-0.59.8-60.i586.rpm
7a269744304f72bf951c7bd6974560f2
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/gaim-0.59.8-60.i586.patch.rpm
e7b18f0da02c1c4392dc1b03e835a827
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/src/gaim-0.59.8-60.src.rpm
ae7d7b1c9735696244547a0d6a5ee92e

SuSE-8.1:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/gaim-0.59-158.i586.rpm
22b1d4be5737906f8ff0975918279034
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/gaim-0.59-158.i586.patch.rpm
7644020869e92cc980b881efebf9d617
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/src/gaim-0.59-158.src.rpm
cd1532f71a79ed32d016d456a844ff4b

SuSE-8.0:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/gnm3/gaim-0.50-187.i386.rpm
7dcb581b78bf8ab61e82bf0836a4357e
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/gnm3/gaim-0.50-187.i386.patch.rpm
5a6f596538edc56e0b3a70a23200c21e
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/zq1/gaim-0.50-187.src.rpm
d38c8da629941eecef7f75d6a5ea9e80

2) Pending vulnerabilities in SUSE Distributions and
Workarounds:

• kernel binaries for SLES8 AMD64 Due to a human failure the
  kernel binaries of SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 for AMD64 lack
  the fix described in SuSE-SA:2004:003. The kernel-source packages
  and the packages for IA64 are not affected. New packages
  are available at our maintenance-web.
• mc By using a special combination of links in archive files it
  is possible to execute arbitrary commands while mc tries to open it
  in its VFS. New packages are available on our FTP servers.
• mod_gzip (apache-contrib) The apache module mod_gzip is
  vulnerable to remote code execution while running in debug-mode. We
  do not ship this module in debug-mode but future versions will
  include the fix. Additionally the mod_gzip code was audited to fix
  more possibly security related bugs. After more testing a new
  apache-contrib RPM package will be released.
• tripwire Tripwire is a file integrity checker. The version of
  tripwire included with SuSE Linux 9.0 crashs when a requested file
  does not exists. New packages are available on our FTP
  servers.
• XDM (XFree86, xf86) A missing check for failure conditions in
  the PAM code of XDM can lead to local root access in conjunction
  with Kerberos or other authentication methods. New packages are
  available on our FTP servers.
• 3ddiag Some 3ddiag scripts handle temporary files in an
  insecure manner. Thanks to Stefan Nordhausen <nordhaus at
  informatik.hu-berlin.de/>
  for reporting some of these issues. New packages are available on
  our FTP servers.
• mod_auth_shadow (apache-contrib) This apache module ignores
  account expiration dates. The update will be released together with
  mod_gzip.
• cvsup cvsup uses a library path which is world-writeable. This
  behavior can lead to local privilege escalation. Thanks to Matthias
  Andree for notifying us. Upcoming SuSE Linux versions have an
  automatic check enabled to detect these types of bugs. New packages
  are available on our FTP servers.
• nmap Due to a bad interaction between kernel and user-space for
  precalculated IP checksums nmap did not work on SUSE LINUX 9.0. New
  packages are available on our FTP servers.
• netpbm Some tools in the netpbm suite create files in an
  insecure manner that can lead to local privilege escalation. New
  packages will be available soon.
• zebra Local users can send malicious netlink messages that
  cause denial-of-service conditions in zebra. New packages will be
  available soon.
• quagga Local users can send malicious netlink messages that
  cause denial-of-service conditions in the routing-daemon quagga.
  New packages are available on our FTP servers.
• tcpdump The code for handling ISAKMP and RADIUS messages
  contained bugs which allowed remote attackers to crash tcpdump or
  to execute arbitrary code. New packages are available on our FTP
  servers.
• mod_python A remote denial-of-service attack can be triggered
  against the Apache web server by sending a specific query string
  that is processed by mod_python. New packages will be available
  soon.

3) standard appendix: authenticity verification, additional
information

• Package authenticity verification:

SUSE update packages are available on many mirror ftp servers
all over the world. While this service is being considered valuable
and important to the free and open source software community, many
users wish to be sure about the origin of the package and its
content before installing the package. There are two verification
methods that can be used independently from each other to prove the
authenticity of a downloaded file or rpm package:

1. md5sums as provided in the (cryptographically signed)
   announcement.
2. using the internal gpg signatures of the rpm package.
3. execute the command md5sum <name-of-the-file.rpm> after
   you downloaded the file from a SUSE ftp server or its mirrors.
   Then, compare the resulting md5sum with the one that is listed in
   the announcement. Since the announcement containing the checksums
   is cryptographically signed (usually using the key security@suse.de), the checksums show
   proof of the authenticity of the package. We disrecommend to
   subscribe to security lists which cause the email message
   containing the announcement to be modified so that the signature
   does not match after transport through the mailing list software.
   Downsides: You must be able to verify the authenticity of the
   announcement in the first place. If RPM packages are being rebuilt
   and a new version of a package is published on the ftp server, all
   md5 sums for the files are useless.
4. rpm package signatures provide an easy way to verify the
   authenticity of an rpm package. Use the command rpm -v –checksig
   <file.rpm> to verify the signature of the package, where
   <file.rpm> is the filename of the rpm package that you have
   downloaded. Of course, package authenticity verification can only
   target an un-installed rpm package file. Prerequisites:
   1. gpg is installed
   2. The package is signed using a certain key. The public part of
      this key must be installed by the gpg program in the directory
      ~/.gnupg/ under the user’s home directory who performs the
      signature verification (usually root). You can import the key that
      is used by SUSE in rpm packages for SUSE Linux by saving this
      announcement to a file (“announcement.txt”) and running the command
      (do “su -” to be root): gpg –batch; gpg < announcement.txt |
      gpg –import SUSE Linux distributions version 7.1 and thereafter
      install the key “build@suse.de”
      upon installation or upgrade, provided that the package gpg is
      installed. The file containing the public key is placed at the
      top-level directory of the first CD (pubring.gpg) and at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/pubring.gpg-build.suse.de
      .

• SUSE runs two security mailing lists to which any interested
  party may subscribe:

suse-security@suse.com

• general/linux/SUSE security discussion. All SUSE security
  announcements are sent to this list. To subscribe, send an email
  to

<suse-security-subscribe@suse.com>.

suse-security-announce@suse.com

• SUSE’s announce-only mailing list. Only SUSE’s security
  announcements are sent to this list. To subscribe, send an email
  to

<suse-security-announce-subscribe@suse.com>.

For general information or the frequently asked questions (faq)
send mail to:

<suse-security-info@suse.com>
or
<suse-security-faq@suse.com>
respectively.

SUSE’s security contact is <security@suse.com> or
<security@suse.de>. The
<security@suse.de>
public key is listed below.

The information in this advisory may be distributed or
reproduced, provided that the advisory is not modified in any way.
In particular, it is desired that the clear-text signature shows
proof of the authenticity of the text.
SUSE Linux AG makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with
respect to the information contained in this security advisory.

Bye,

Thomas
—
Thomas Biege <thomas@suse.de>, SUSE LINUX AG,
Security Support & Auditing