TurboLinux Security Announcement: Package: netscape-communicator 4.74 and earlier

Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 11:58:16 -0700
From: Kevin Beyer [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: [TL-Security-Announce] netscape TLSA2000020-1

                        TurboLinux Security Announcement

        Package: netscape-communicator 4.74 and earlier
        Date: Thursday August 31 11:45 PDT 2000

        Affected TurboLinux versions: 6.0.5 and earlier
        TurboLinux Advisory ID#:  TLSA2000020-1

A security hole was discovered in the package mentioned above.
Please update the package in your installation as soon as
possible.

1. Problem Summary

There is a serious problem in netscape’s java libraries that
allows an applet to act as a web server on the client machine,
exposing all files on the machine to the world.

The exploit of this vulnerability is widely published under the
name “Brown Orifice”.

This update also contains fixes a buffer overrun condition while
processing JPEG files. This bug could also be exploited by
malicious web servers to obtain access to the client machine.

2. Impact

It is possible for the browser to act as a web server for the
client’s entire machine and can also allow access into the client
machine via a buffer overrun condition.

3. Solution

Update the package from our ftp server by running the following
command for then package:

rpm -Uvh –nodeps –Force ftp_path_to_filename

Where ftp_path_to_filename is the following:

ftp://ftp.turbolinux.com/pub/updates/6.0/security/netscape-communicator-4.75-1.i386.rpm

The source RPM can be downloaded here:

ftp://ftp.turbolinux.com/pub/updates/6.0/SRPMS/netscape-communicator-4.75-1.src.rpm

**Note: You must rebuild and install the RPM if you choose to
download and install the SRPM. Simply installing the SRPM alone
WILL NOT CLOSE THE SECURITY HOLE.

Please verify the MD5 checksum of the update before you
install:

  MD5 sum                               Package Name

c99bfe042efb64bac1e9838d57ef7bd5 netscape-communicator-4.75-1.i386

These packages are GPG signed by Turbolinux for security. Our key
is available here:

http://www.turbolinux.com/security/tlgpgkey.asc

To verify a package, use the following command:

rpm –checksig name_of_rpm

To examine only the md5sum, use the following command:

rpm –checksig –nogpg name_of_rpm

**Note: Checking GPG keys requires RPM 3.0 or higher.

You can find more updates on our ftp server:

ftp://ftp.turbolinux.com/pub/updates/6.0/security/
for TL6.0 Workstation and Server security updates
ftp://ftp.turbolinux.com/pub/updates/4.0/security/
for TL4.0 Workstation and Server security updates

Our webpage for security announcements:

http://www.turbolinux.com/security

If you want to report vulnerabilities, please contact:

[email protected]

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