SUSE Security Announcement

Package: Linux Kernel
Announcement-ID: SuSE-SA:2004:005
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 18th 2004 23:05 MET
Affected products: 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 9.0 SuSE Linux Database Server,
SuSE eMail Server III, 3.1 SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7, 8 SuSE
Linux Firewall on CD/Admin host SuSE Linux Connectivity Server SuSE
Linux Office Server
Vulnerability Type: local privilege escalation
Severity (1-10): 6
SUSE default package: yes
Cross References: CAN-2004-0003 CAN-2004-0010 CAN-2004-0077
CAN-2004-0075

Content of this advisory:

security vulnerability resolved:
- do_mremap: insecure memory page management
- several local denial-of-service attacks problem description,
  discussion, solution and upgrade information
pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds:
- netpbm
- zebra
- susehelp
- mod_gzip
- mod_auth_shadow
- mod_python
- mutt
- mailman
- clamav
- XFree86/xf86
- libxml2
standard appendix (further information)

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

Another bug in the Kernel’s do_mremap() function, which is
unrelated to the bug fixed in SuSE-SA:2004:001, was found by Paul
Starzetz. The do_mremap() function of the Linux Kernel is used to
manage Virtual Memory Areas (VMAs) which includes moving, removing
and resizing of memory areas. To remove old memory areas
do_mremap() uses the function du_munmap() without checking the
return value. By forcing do_munmap() to return an error the memory
management of a process can be tricked into moving page table
entries from one VMA to another. The destination VMA may be
protected by a different ACL which enables a local attacker to gain
write access to previous read-only pages.
The result will be local root access to the system.

Additionally to the bug mentioned above some other bugs were
fixed (depending on architecture) that can cause local
denial-of-service conditions:

Vicam USB driver: CAN-2004-0075
+ denial-of-service due to problem while copying data from user
to kernel space
Direct Render Infrastructure: CAN-2004-0003
+ denial-of-service due to integer overflow + needs r128 card
and console to be exploited
ncpfs/ncp_lookup: CAN-2004-0010
+ buffer overflow with the probability to gain root
execve():
+ malformed elf binaries can lead to a local denial-of-service
attack

SPECIAL INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS:

The following paragraphs will guide you through the installation
process in a step-by-step fashion. The character sequence “****”
marks the beginning of a new paragraph. In some cases, you decide
if the paragraph is needed for you or not. Please read through all
of the steps down to the end. All of the commands that need to be
executed are required to be run as the superuser (root). Each step
relies on the steps before to complete successfully.

Step 1: Determine the needed kernel type

Please use the following command to find the kernel type that is
installed on your system:

rpm -qf /boot/vmlinuz

The following options are possible (disregarding the version and
build number following the name, separated by the “-”
character):

      k_deflt   # default kernel, good for most systems.
      k_i386    # ke for older processors and chipsets
      k_athlon  # kernel made specifically for AMD Athlon(tm) family processors
      k_psmp    # kernel for Pentium-I dual processor systems
      k_smp     # kernel for SMP systems (Pentium-II and above)
      k_smp4G   # kernel for SMP systems which supports a maximum of 4G of RAM

Step 2: Download the package for your system

Please download the kernel RPM package for your distribution
with the name starting as indicated by Step 1. The list of all
kernel rpm packages is appended below. Note: The kernel-source
package does not contain any binary kernel in bootable form.
Instead, it contains the sources that the binary kernel rpm
packages are made from. It can be used by administrators who have
decided to build their own kernel. Since the kernel-source.rpm is
an installable (compiled) package that contains sources for the
linux kernel, it is not the source RPM for the kernel RPM binary
packages.

The kernel RPM binary packages for the distributions can be
found at these locations below ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/.

      8.0/images/
      8.1/rpm/i586
      8.2/rpm/i586
      9.0/rpm/i586

After downloading the kernel RPM package for your system, you
should verify the authenticity of the kernel rpm package using the
methods as listed in section 3) of each SUSE Security
Announcement.

Step 3: Installing your kernel rpm package

Install the rpm package that you have downloaded in Steps 3 or 4
with the command

rpm -Uhv –nodeps –force <K_FILE.RPM> where
<K_FILE.RPM> is the name of the rpm package that you
downloaded.

Warning: After performing this step, your system will likely not
be

             able to boot if the following steps have not been fully
             applied.

If you run SUSE LINUX 8.1 and haven’t applied the previous
kernel update (SUSE-SA:2003:034), AND use the freeswan package, you
also need to update the freeswan rpm as a dependency as offered by
YOU (Yast Online Update). The package can be downloaded from
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/

Step 4: configuring and creating the initrd

The initrd is a ramdisk that is being loaded into the memory of
your system together with the kernel boot image by the bootloader.
The kernel uses the content of this ramdisk to execute commands
that must be run before the kernel can mount its actual root
filesystem. It is usually used to initialize scsi drivers or NIC
drivers for diskless operation.

The variable INITRD_MODULES in /etc/sysconfig/kernel determines
which kernel modules will be loaded in the initrd before the kernel
has mounted its actual root filesystem. The variable should contain
your scsi adapter (if any) or filesystem driver modules.

With the installation of the new kernel, the initrd has to be
re-packed with the update kernel modules. Please run the
command

mk_initrd

as root to create a new init ramdisk (initrd) for your system.
On SuSE Linux 8.1 and later, this is done automatically when the
RPM is installed.

Step 5: bootloader

If you have a 7.x system, you must now run the command

lilo

as root to initialize the lilo bootloader for your system. Then
proceed to the next step.

If you run a SUSE LINUX 8.x or a SLES8 system, there are two
options: Depending on your software configuration, you have the
lilo bootloader or the grub bootloader installed and initialized on
your system. The grub bootloader does not require any further
actions to be performed after the new kernel images have been moved
in place by the rpm Update command.
If you have a lilo bootloader installed and initialized, then the
lilo program must be run as root. Use the command

grep LOADER_TYPE /etc/sysconfig/bootloader

to find out which boot loader is configured. If it is lilo, then
you must run the lilo command as root. If grub is listed, then your
system does not require any bootloader initialization.

Warning: An improperly installed bootloader may render your
system

unbootable.

Step 6: reboot

If all of the steps above have been successfully applied to your
system, then the new kernel including the kernel modules and the
initrd should be ready to boot. The system needs to be rebooted for
the changes to become active. Please make sure that all steps are
complete, then reboot using the command

shutdown -r now
or

init 6

Your system should now shut down and reboot with the new
kernel.

Our maintenance customers are being notified individually. The
packages are being offered to install from the maintenance web.

There is no workaround known.

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.

Due to unfinished functional evaluation testing the 8.0 kernel
will be released within the next few days.

Intel i386 Platform:

SuSE-8.2:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/k_deflt-2.4.20-105.i586.rpm
1782b12abf777cea56e3093a6afd77d3
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/src/k_deflt-2.4.20-105.src.rpm
1851210f8db7acd6f0396a774032128e

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/k_athlon-2.4.20-105.i586.rpm
63a528e967ea95c94357cbdb24b539fc
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/src/k_athlon-2.4.20-105.src.rpm
52497095cbf87ec168d0c7babb3ee416

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/k_psmp-2.4.20-105.i586.rpm
3743e2d1f856541b9baf2c5f629a7ee6
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/src/k_psmp-2.4.20-105.src.rpm
502677799b511df2491cb87c9c35b997

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/k_smp-2.4.20-105.i586.rpm
d0711272b2d4de9a32b86ae83ae6a3e0
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/src/k_smp-2.4.20-105.src.rpm
bb323ee3ca8654d9f547a0ba3d2ad430

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/kernel-source-2.4.20.SuSE-104.i586.rpm
2e9eef765ef10fcdfb17d96f6042ecdb
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/src/kernel-source-2.4.20.SuSE-104.src.rpm
2251c37b3ead38d341ca3fc1558f23ba

SuSE-8.1:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/k_deflt-2.4.21-189.i586.rpm
268986c15003f47539f97847ca0a71ba
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/src/k_deflt-2.4.21-189.src.rpm
19a256181b4ccf094db7a1af53a286cf

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/k_athlon-2.4.21-189.i586.rpm
d673923c542d3b0cd7f383f33b8a1818
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/src/k_athlon-2.4.21-189.src.rpm
96e3687da59d0e79246df6e385f0443d

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/k_psmp-2.4.21-189.i586.rpm
165f881a57d953eeb078b82ff5c1c745
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/src/k_psmp-2.4.21-189.src.rpm
21fa38976e6dedbaa11e1a699b539021

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/k_smp-2.4.21-189.i586.rpm
e7126b41226074c4bed437e374055e9c
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/src/k_smp-2.4.21-189.src.rpm
ed4457abe00add59dd62185bfd560ec0

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/kernel-source-2.4.21-189.i586.rpm
5e6d14000e873c83916871a284e34032
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/src/kernel-source-2.4.21-189.src.rpm
a42879b3e259630f0ffcc48e72b67385

Opteron x86_64 Platform:

SuSE-9.0:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/x86_64/update/9.0/rpm/x86_64/k_deflt-2.4.21-201.x86_64.rpm
f751f7c38b66fef72497cd20efe93e6d
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/x86_64/update/9.0/rpm/src/k_deflt-2.4.21-201.src.rpm
7e4a005094d9db401fcff09edf02f8e3

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/x86_64/update/9.0/rpm/x86_64/k_smp-2.4.21-201.x86_64.rpm
460119617de7678ca0e81cd9cdc1b07d
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/x86_64/update/9.0/rpm/src/k_smp-2.4.21-201.src.rpm
54408250c4c6876d65b9e07c3633e355

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/x86_64/update/9.0/rpm/x86_64/kernel-source-2.4.21-201.x86_64.rpm
afb38f0f8bb015110be9aab42536961f
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/x86_64/update/9.0/rpm/src/kernel-source-2.4.21-201.src.rpm
d8bd2b7a61dea7e3166acf11f4bc35e0

2) Pending vulnerabilities in SUSE Distributions and
Workarounds:

netpbm Some tools in the netpbm suite create files in an
insecure manner that can lead to local privilege escalation. New
packages are available on our FTP servers.
zebra Local users can send malicious netlink messages that
cause denial-of-service conditions in zebra. New packages are
available on our FTP servers.
susehelp The susehelp package for SuSE Linux 9.0 contained CGI
scripts which allowed remote attackers to execute arbitrary
commands as wwwrun user. Additionally, certain ACL entries have
been added to deny execution of the susehelp CGI scripts from
remote. If you update your susehelp package manually, you have to
invoke the SuSEconfig command as root afterwards. You also have to
restart the HTTP server for the new ACLs to take effect. 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. 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. 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.
mutt The popular email client mutt is vulnerable to a remote
denial-of-service attack and maybe remote command execution. The
bug can be triggered by malformed messages that overflow an
internal buffer. New packages will be available soon.
mailman A remote denial-of-service attack can be triggered in
mailman 2.0.x (CAN-2003-0991). New packages will be available
soon.
clamav A remote denial-of-service attack can be triggered in
the anti-virus scanner. New packages will be available soon.
XFree86/xf86 Several buffer overflows in the font-alias
handling code can lead to local root access. Packages are built and
are being tested at the moment.
libxml2 Two buffer overflows in the URI code can lead to remote
system compromise. 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:

md5sums as provided in the (cryptographically signed)
announcement.
using the internal gpg signatures of the rpm package.
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.
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.

Type	Bits/KeyID	Date	User ID
pub	2048R/3D25D3D9	1999-03-06	uSE Security Team <security@suse.de>
pub	1024D/9C800ACA	2000-10-19	uSE Package Signing Key <build@suse.de>

SUSE Linux Advisory: kernel

SPECIAL INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS:

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