Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 19:33:47 -0700
From: Kevin Beyer kbeyer@turbolinux.com
To: TL-Security-Announce@turbolinux.com
Subject: [TL-Security-Announce] xchat TLSA2000022-1
TurboLinux Security Announcement
Package: xchat-1.4.2 and earlier
Date: Monday September 18 19:20 PDT 2000
Affected TurboLinux versions: 6.0.5 and earlier
TurboLinux Advisory ID#: TLSA2000022-1
BugTraq ID#: 1601
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 has been a well-known vulnerability existing with all
un-patched xchat versions 1.4.2 and earlier. By supplying
commands enclosed in backticks (“) in URL’s sent to X-Chat, it is
possible to execute arbitrary commands should the X-Chat user
decide to view the link by clicking on it. This is due to the
manner in which X-Chat launches pages for viewing.
2. Impact
Allows an attacker to exploit shell expansion capabilities to
execute commands as the user running Netscape.
3. Thanks Thanks to Zenith Parsec for reporting the security
hole to Bugtraq and for updates by Zed, forgive me if I got this
wrong.
3. Thanks Thanks to Zenith Parsec for reporting the security
hole to Bugtraq and for updates by Zed, forgive me if I got this
wrong.
3. Solution
Update the package from our ftp server by running the following
command:
rpm -Uvh –nodeps –Force ftp_path_to_filename
Where ftp_path_to_filename is the following:
ftp://ftp.turbolinux.com/pub/updates/6.0/xchat-1.4.3-1.i386.rpm
The source RPM can be downloaded here:
ftp://ftp.turbolinux.com/pub/updates/6.0/SRPMS/xchat-1.4.3-1.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 checksums of the updates before you
install:
MD5 sum Package Name
56d0f9cfa44ea14d7ad5f21b9f419c17 xchat-1.4.3-1.i386.rpm a6fa049893620723cd48e9925b5a283d xchat-1.4.3-1.src.rpm
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: