SuSE Linux Advisory: nfs-utils

SuSE Security Announcement

Content of this advisory:

1. security vulnerability resolved: Off by one bug in rpc.mountd.
   problem description, discussion, solution and upgrade
   information
2. pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds:
   • xpdf/acroread
   • lbreakout
   • Eterm
   • gnats
   • unzip
3. standard appendix (further information)

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

The nfs-utils package contains various programs to offer and
manage certain RPC services such as the rpc.mountd. iSEC Security
Research has reported an off-by-one bug in the xlog() function used
by the rpc.mountd. It is possible for remote attackers to use this
off-by-one overflow to execute arbitrary code as root. Some of the
products listed above seem not vulnerable to this one byte overflow
due to the stack alignment generated by the compiler during the
build. Nevertheless, since there is no easy workaround except
shutting down the RPC services, an update is strongly recommended
for every product listed above.

This update needs to be applied to both NFS servers and clients,
as the vulnerable function is used by mountd and statd.

You can either restart these services manually, or use the
corresponding init scripts:

“rcnfsserver restart” (for the NFS server)
“rcnfs restart” (for the NFS client)

Depending on your setup, it may be less disruptive to restart
the two daemons manually.

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

i386 Intel Platform:

SuSE-8.2:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/nfs-utils-1.0.1-109.i586.rpm
964386359a4280b0f64b5d06cc0debb4
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/nfs-utils-1.0.1-109.i586.patch.rpm
5e67e844aa5d5c9d6fb3720f388813af
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/src/nfs-utils-1.0.1-109.src.rpm
91695f1d03df64188c3a63126699a811

SuSE-8.1:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/nfs-utils-1.0.1-109.i586.rpm
b212711af6445cb97773e30ed4284741
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/nfs-utils-1.0.1-109.i586.patch.rpm
8b267ea76f715f64b8a041c2f24cee07
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/src/nfs-utils-1.0.1-109.src.rpm
6da708a468ca48dd4078cbeff2c842f6

SuSE-8.0:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/n1/nfs-utils-0.3.3-178.i386.rpm
3cec45e5a7fdac0e9d6c67d894e90b16
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/n1/nfs-utils-0.3.3-178.i386.patch.rpm
5f86c33e9564e39df6f74c376d6d0ccd
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/zq1/nfs-utils-0.3.3-178.src.rpm
f105acb95d3a770c4b142fd265bdf6a7

SuSE-7.3:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.3/n1/nfs-utils-0.3.1-111.i386.rpm
a4c43c562fc1d9ff65367795897d5fb5
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.3/zq1/nfs-utils-0.3.1-111.src.rpm
dc56ab3deeb7a5ed6bde4e021ff35c10

SuSE-7.2:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.2/n1/nfs-utils-0.3.1-112.i386.rpm
1905a8a632eaf00dd5ad81f498ad6493
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.2/zq1/nfs-utils-0.3.1-112.src.rpm
a048236b106c8a32bce936a39bdc0403

Sparc Platform:

SuSE-7.3:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/update/7.3/n1/nfs-utils-0.3.1-49.sparc.rpm
176b1636fa49520b3f700d399af39203
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/update/7.3/zq1/nfs-utils-0.3.1-49.src.rpm
2b3cd21df36acf2b6076993855ef179f

PPC Power PC Platform:

SuSE-7.3:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/7.3/n1/nfs-utils-0.3.1-60.ppc.rpm
0af7e6f702231a3194063a2c99473bb4
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/7.3/zq1/nfs-utils-0.3.1-60.src.rpm
6b4a8ea3c5e443d255e15123dc97b0e9

2) Pending vulnerabilities in SuSE Distributions and
Workarounds:

• xpdf/acroread A problem regarding handling of external URLs by
  various PDF readers has been reported by CERT. Attackers could
  execute arbitrary commands as the user viewing the document by
  embedding shell meta characters in URLs. The xpdf PDF viewer as
  shipped with SuSE is not vulnerable to this attack due to its
  configuration. For the acrobat PDF reader we will provide updates
  on our ftp servers shortly.
• lbreakout Various format string bugs in the code of the game
  lbreakout were reported for version 2-2.5. These bugs can be
  exploited remotely. SuSE Linux does not ship this vulnerable
  version of lbreakout.
• Eterm A buffer overflow in eterm while handling the environment
  variable ETERMPATH can lead to local privilege escalation. SuSE do
  not ship eterm with higher privileges.
• gnats Several security bugs were reported in gnats. These bugs
  will be fixed and update packages will released soon.
• unzip Unzip can be tricked into overwriting files by using
  special zip archives. Fixed packages are available on our ftp
  servers.

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 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 [email protected]), 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
   to verify the signature of the package, where 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:
   • gpg is installed
   • 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 “[email protected]”
     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:

[email protected]

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

  <<A
  HREF=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]>.

[email protected]

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

  <<A
  HREF=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]>.

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

<<A
HREF=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]>
or
<<A
HREF=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]>
respectively.

SuSE’s security contact is <<A
HREF=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]> or
<<A HREF=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]>.
The <<A
HREF=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]> 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.