SuSE Security Announcement: wmaker/WindowMaker

Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 23:55:31 +0200 (CEST)
From: Thomas Biege 
Subject: SuSE Security Announcement: wmaker/WindowMaker (SuSE-SA:2001:032)

____________________________________________________________________________

                             SuSE Security Announcement

        Package:                wmaker/WindowMaker
        Announcement-ID:        SuSE-SA:2001:032
        Date:                   Thursday, September 20th 2001 15:10 MEST
        Affected SuSE versions: (6.0, 6.1, 6.2,) 6.3, 6.4, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2
        Vulnerability Type:     remote privilege escalation
        Severity (1-10):        5
        SuSE default package:   no
        Other affected systems: all Unix systems running
                                Window Maker < 0.65.1

        Content of this advisory:
        1) security vulnerability resolved:  Window Maker
           problem description, discussion, solution and upgrade information
        2) pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds
        3) standard appendix (further information)

____________________________________________________________________________

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

  The window manager Window Maker was found vulnerable to a buffer overflow
  due to improper bounds checking when setting the window title.
  An attacker can remotely exploit this buffer overflow by using malicious
  web page titles or terminal escape sequences to set a excessively long
  window title.
  This attack can lead to remote command execution with the privileges of
  the user running Window Maker.

  A temporary fix does not exist; we recommend to update your system with
  the new RPM from our FTP server.

  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 -Uhv file.rpm" to apply
  the update.

  After installing the updated RPM
    - run /sbin/SuSEconfig (the central configuration utility in SuSE Linux
      distributions)
    - restart your window manager. If this is not possible for configura-
      tional reasons, restart your x-session.


  i386 Intel Platform:

  SuSE-7.2
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.2/xwm1/WindowMaker-0.64.0-82.i386.rpm
      0f5508e10089deecf34b51ab8c007bbf
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.2/zq1/WindowMaker-0.64.0-82.src.rpm
      6472b87eb8a841d5cefe4f0889f9b4e1

  SuSE-7.1
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.1/xwm1/WindowMaker-0.62.1-25.i386.rpm
      39c69fab92923eca0cf1f0e077232fef
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.1/zq1/WindowMaker-0.62.1-25.src.rpm
      a8c32f85125bbe7bf041335100e447b8

  SuSE-7.0
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.0/xwm1/wmaker-0.62.1-42.i386.rpm
      d825fa6cd78643e880bb89464594a464
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.0/zq1/wmaker-0.62.1-42.src.rpm
      bd6e55a9b16e836065f59b4dc824416f

  SuSE-6.4
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.4/xwm1/wmaker-0.61.1-59.i386.rpm
      7de5a334c4fbbeb6ef3d79d197a585c1
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.4/zq1/wmaker-0.61.1-59.src.rpm
      4471d22b705b8b24a1808729a32d1764

  SuSE-6.3
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.3/xwm1/wmaker-0.61.1-59.i386.rpm
      8c8453b37e7b69008be2be4929a62d80
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.3/zq1/wmaker-0.61.1-59.src.rpm
      0c96f81234e787a48b8d2df4e698843a



  Sparc Platform:

  SuSE-7.1
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/update/7.1/xwm1/WindowMaker-0.62.1-17.sparc.rpm
      c19bc73ccc235bbd35d1e8953cfbabbb
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/update/7.1/zq1/WindowMaker-0.62.1-17.src.rpm
      e60425cb8ae38b16a3aac3fa23a6c54f

  SuSE-7.0
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/update/7.0/xwm1/wmaker-0.62.1-2.sparc.rpm
      9f0a23eddb8b9dbfc07288871388ff34
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/update/7.0/zq1/wmaker-0.62.1-2.src.rpm
      a95d995b1ea164b8c93a9fc308f703d1



  AXP Alpha Platform:

  SuSE-7.1
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/7.1/xwm1/WindowMaker-0.62.1-23.alpha.rpm
      55cf56c7bea8fa3e9cf7ca2c90457249
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/7.1/zq1/WindowMaker-0.62.1-23.src.rpm
      7b5bc50ad9e854dc2858a1b0a08385d5

  SuSE-7.0
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/7.0/xwm1/wmaker-0.62.1-5.alpha.rpm
      6e7e01c1a1ef1e2ac751638dd7e31d21
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/7.0/zq1/wmaker-0.62.1-5.src.rpm
      2ee34d67aba5c06878623e3ca50f47d1

  SuSE-6.4
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/6.4/xwm1/wmaker-0.61.1-57.alpha.rpm
      dcbfdaf729cb823046f3dc6e913fcf1b
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/6.4/zq1/wmaker-0.61.1-57.src.rpm
      3d045c4fd65d2ce9b69a1890d71fd59a

  SuSE-6.3
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/6.3/xwm1/wmaker-0.61.1-57.alpha.rpm
      6c17c78ef0fe2971b29fe1a2300c4fc3
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/6.3/zq1/wmaker-0.61.1-57.src.rpm
      f01b2923ebc6e4e6a52b75e8597cbe50



  PPC PowerPC Platform:

  SuSE-7.1
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/7.1/xwm1/WindowMaker-0.62.1-18.ppc.rpm
      00f099cc26983691641ed041441abfc2
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/7.1/zq1/WindowMaker-0.62.1-18.src.rpm
      1941b4c46eeb3e4fe4a7e3a1c79ae8a5

  SuSE-7.0
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/7.0/xwm1/wmaker-0.62.1-49.ppc.rpm
      f5ef503d073a7e9e34cf28e4eb56fbaa
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/7.0/zq1/wmaker-0.62.1-49.src.rpm
      362468904bd119c44f2c2baa1312a116

  SuSE-6.4
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/6.4/xwm1/wmaker-0.61.1-56.ppc.rpm
      0408f29d40eebf5bbc84bdcf14a03c5f
    source rpm:
    ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/6.4/zq1/wmaker-0.61.1-56.src.rpm
      50c1a727aec53feb76f451854657b6c8


____________________________________________________________________________

2)  Pending vulnerabilities in SuSE Distributions and Workarounds:


  - SuSE Linux distributions do not contain the sftp-server as described by
    Peter W (peterw@usa.net) (Message-ID: (20010918082406.M14947@usa.net))
    on the bugtraq mailing list and are therefore not vulnerable to the
    problems found.

  - A new worm called "Nimda" has been reported in the wild. It attacks
    IIS webservers and uploads a file called "readme.eml" which is being
    downloaded by the client's browser. Some versions of the Internet
    Explorer even execute this file without the user's knowledge. A
    temporary workaround for sites that use a squid proxy to access the
    internet would be to add these three lines to the /etc/squid.conf
    file:
        # filter Nimda worm files:
        acl nimda urlpath_regex -i .eml$
        acl nimda urlpath_regex -i .nws$
        http_access deny nimda
    Do not forget to reload your squid server (/usr/sbin/rcsquid reload)!


____________________________________________________________________________

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.

    1) 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 advise against subscribing to 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.

    2) 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 uninstalled rpm
       package file.
       Prerequisites:
        a) gpg is installed
        b) 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 toplevel 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 annoucements 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.
    The security@suse.com 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 cleartext signature shows proof of the
    authenticity of the text.
    SuSE GmbH makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect
    to the information contained in this security advisory.

Bye,
     Thomas
-- 
  Thomas Biege, SuSE GmbH, Schanzaeckerstr. 10, 90443 Nuernberg
  E@mail: thomas@suse.de      Function: Security Support & Auditing
  "lynx -source http://www.suse.de/~thomas/contact/thomas.asc | pgp -fka"
  Key fingerprint = 51 AD B9 C7 34 FC F2 54  01 4A 1C D4 66 64 09 84