SuSE Linux Advisory: pam_smb

SuSE Security Announcement

Content of this advisory:

1. security vulnerability resolved: buffer overflow problem
   description, discussion, solution and upgrade information
2. pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds:
   • gdm2
   • whois
   • node
   • postgresql
   • gkrellm
3. standard appendix (further information)

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

The PAM module (and server) pam_smb allows users of Linux
systems to be authenticated by querying an NT server. Dave Airlie
<[email protected]>
informed us about a bug in the authentication code of pam_smb that
allows a remote attacker to gain access to a system using pam_smb
by issuing a too long password string.

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.

Intel i386 Platform:

SuSE-8.2:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/pam_smb-1.1.6-501.i586.rpm
77b933d95963020022c0b8ec426b1b33
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/pam_smb-1.1.6-501.i586.patch.rpm
be26f459b855e0eb8a7aeb048966aff2
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/src/pam_smb-1.1.6-501.src.rpm
f533ca1293f8a70db9d5ad2cc1aca1eb

SuSE-8.1:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/pam_smb-1.1.6-500.i586.rpm
b12d1f7897319eabaccd3241c40a022a
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/pam_smb-1.1.6-500.i586.patch.rpm
7bac2fa8229633f5329e51cc4474514f
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/src/pam_smb-1.1.6-500.src.rpm
84a8f0156950582354832d9850964829

SuSE-8.0:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/n4/pam_smb-1.1.6-500.i386.rpm
d340b5e40b5a70ba91613c6328995b32
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/n4/pam_smb-1.1.6-500.i386.patch.rpm
f60ff0bb02f6e5d0346db13075cb819a
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/zq1/pam_smb-1.1.6-500.src.rpm
1bbd9e875b5952dedfe2b5a0754e5619

SuSE-7.3:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.3/n2/pam_smb-1.1.6-501.i386.rpm
7223b46ae84c85e343c9ebbf1b7d93fc
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.3/zq1/pam_smb-1.1.6-501.src.rpm
d98153d86906f0c658fc076c4e7bc2e3

SuSE-7.2:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.2/n2/pam_smb-1.1.6-500.i386.rpm
5e13b0856e21bdfcf5f6b7bd3da6aced
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.2/zq1/pam_smb-1.1.6-500.src.rpm
21a70e45e84f518f33c0180d145b922f

Sparc Platform:

SuSE-7.3:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/update/7.3/n2/pam_smb-1.1.6-147.sparc.rpm
c6d8dc37b190d80d198565391455547a
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/update/7.3/zq1/pam_smb-1.1.6-147.src.rpm
da99ca714612b897b035477aaae5b600

PPC Power PC Platform:

SuSE-7.3:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/7.3/n2/pam_smb-1.1.6-328.ppc.rpm
0287905509e5d134ff9cd07be7aad701
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/7.3/zq1/pam_smb-1.1.6-328.src.rpm
55659805dada2721d5d0f5598e3ede27

2) Pending vulnerabilities in SuSE Distributions and
Workarounds:

• gdm2 Due to a bug in GDM it is possible for local users to read
  any text file on a system by creating a symlink from
  ~/.xsession-errors. Updated packages will be available on our FTP
  servers soon.
• whois The client tool whois is vulnerable to several buffer
  overflows while processing its command-line arguments. In
  conjunction with using untrusted data from remote sources as input,
  like using whois in a CGI script and so on, this buffer overflows
  may be abused to compromise a system. New whois packages are built
  and will be released at the usual locations as soon as quality
  assurance is passed.
• node The simple hamradio front-end node is vulnerable to buffer
  overflows and format-string bugs. New packages will be available
  soon.
• postgresql The SQL database server postgresql of version 7.3.x
  prior 7.3.4 is vulnerable to buffer overflow attacks. New packages
  will be available soon.
• gkrellm The server component of the gkrellm monitoring package
  is vulnerable to a buffer overflow. News 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 [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
   <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 “[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

  <[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

  <[email protected]>.

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

<[email protected]>
or
<[email protected]>
respectively.

SuSE’s security contact is <[email protected]> or
<[email protected]>. The
<[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.

Bye,

Thomas
—
Thomas Biege <[email protected]>

—

… bring the pieces back together, we discover
communication… – Maynard James Keenan