SUSE Linux Advisory: xf86/XFree86

---

SUSE Security Announcement

Package: xf86/XFree86
Announcement-ID: SuSE-SA:2004:006
Date: Monday, Feb. 23th 2004 16:30 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): 5
SUSE default package: yes
Cross References: CAN-2004-0083 CAN-2004-0084 CAN-2004-0106

Content of this advisory:

1. security vulnerability resolved:
   • several local buffer overflows in fontfile code problem
     description, discussion, solution and upgrade information
2. pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds:
   • mutt
   • mod_python
   • mailman
   • metamail
   • libxml2
   • lbreakout
   • pwlib
3. standard appendix (further information)

---

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

XFree86 is an open-source X Window System implementation that
acts as a client-server-based API between different hardware
components like display, mouse, keyboard and so on. Several buffer
overflows were found in the fontfile code that handles a
user-supplied “fonts.alias” file. The file is processed with root
privileges and therefore a successful exploitation of these bugs
leads to local root access.

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/XFree86-4.3.0.1-46.i586.rpm
dcaadc2b9438995c9a3ac6e4fc7bf181
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/9.0/rpm/i586/XFree86-4.3.0.1-46.i586.patch.rpm
f094861c9a0fbb5f27d168b680fe1a5b
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/9.0/rpm/src/XFree86-4.3.0.1-46.src.rpm
824c6173693342a033f75c503592e7e0

SuSE-8.2:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/XFree86-4.3.0-120.i586.rpm
f1f01280e6e8a5a2f091a04c5836a51d
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/i586/XFree86-4.3.0-120.i586.patch.rpm
16ba90ef0ad607d1547cda7734b28750
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.2/rpm/src/XFree86-4.3.0-120.src.rpm
4100735436d4c8801c6add673fceb29e

SuSE-8.1:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/xf86-4.2.0-257.i586.rpm
9ed1fc5ec83a42a85315391387610e6b
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/i586/xf86-4.2.0-257.i586.patch.rpm
9652732385f8670ea9d36151378b7428
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.1/rpm/src/xf86-4.2.0-257.src.rpm
e1d73191d2aabe3a6dda677e6fd716bc

SuSE-8.0:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/x1/xf86-4.2.0-257.i386.rpm
9b69aac017a0ac9905e3fc4e9594d435
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/x1/xf86-4.2.0-257.i386.patch.rpm
3076136bcdf20132f343768e4a71c7a2
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/zq1/xf86-4.2.0-257.src.rpm
1775eef155f4afdc9a3a08ff31a38607

Opteron x86_64 Platform:

SuSE-9.0:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/x86_64/update/9.0/rpm/x86_64/XFree86-4.3.0.1-52.x86_64.rpm
1714cb2eb566fab0e29277db9f9d2572
patch rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/x86_64/update/9.0/rpm/x86_64/XFree86-4.3.0.1-52.x86_64.patch.rpm
930944efc868b28d87a69a9543206546
source rpm(s):

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/x86_64/update/9.0/rpm/src/XFree86-4.3.0.1-52.src.rpm
ee67773fcad341912b617d397991ed32

---

2) Pending vulnerabilities in SUSE Distributions and
Workarounds:

• 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 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 are available on our FTP
  servers..
• mailman
  A remote denial-of-service attack can be triggered in mailman 2.0.x
  (CAN-2003-0991). New packages will be available soon.
• metamail
  This update fixes two buffer overflows and two format string bugs
  that can be exploited remotely in conjunction with other tools to
  gain access to a system with the privileges of the user running New
  packages will be available soon.
• libxml2
  A buffer overflow in the URI parsing cde is fixed. This bug can
  lead to remote access to a system using libxml2. New packages will
  be available soon.
• lbreakout
  A buffer overflow in lbreakout can be exploited locally to gain
  access to group ‘game’. This just affects SuSE Linux 8.1. New
  packages will be available soon.
• pwlib
  This update addresses several security vulnerabilities that may be
  exploited remotely via applications that link with pwlib, like
  GnomeMeeting or alike. 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.

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

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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.