I messed it up - sent the wrong advisory.
Sorry.
Here's the right one:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
______________________________________________________________________________
SuSE Security Announcement
Package: knfsd, all versions
Date: Thursday, August 10th, 2000
Affected SuSE versions: 6.1-6.4
Vulnerability Type: remote root compromise
Severity (1-10): 9
SuSE default package: yes
Other affected systems: all linux systems using this package
Content of this advisory:
1) security vulnerability resolved: knfsd (remote root compromise)
problem description, discussion, solution and upgrade information
2) pending vulnerabilities, temporary workarounds
(Netscape, suidperl)
3) standard appendix (further information)
______________________________________________________________________________
1) problem description, brief discussion, solution, upgrade information
Due to incorrect string parsing in the code, a remote attacker could
gain root priviledges on the machine running the vulnerable rpc.kstatd.
The rpc.kstatd daemon contained in the package linuxnfs (SuSE-6.1, 6.2)
or knfsd (SuSE-6.3, 6.4) is used by the NFS file locking service to
implement lock recovery when the NFS server crashes or reboots.
The network status monitor as shipped with SuSE distributions including
and following SuSE-6.1 is called `rpc.kstatd' in order not to confuse
it with the `rpc.rstatd', the kernel statistics server that comes with
SuSE, too (See manual pages for rpc.kstatd and rpc.rstatd). Other
distributors might use the term `rpc.statd'.
Note: The upcoming SuSE-7.0 distribution is _not_ vulnerable to the
problem with rpc.kstatd.
SuSE provides updated packages for the vulnerable software. It is
strongly recommended to upgrade to the latest version found on our
ftp server as described below.
For the kernel-based NFS server to operate properly, it is strongly
recommended to upgrade to the latest kernel version as announced in
http://www.suse.de/de/support/security/suse_security_announce_54.txt .
Chose one of the following paths to download the package from our
ftp server and install the package with the command `rpm -Fhv file.rpm'.
The md5sum for each file is in the line below.
You can verify the integrity of the rpm files using the command
`rpm --checksig --nogpg file.rpm', independently from the md5
signatures below.
i386 Intel Platform:
SuSE-6.4 (package name is knfsd!):
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.4/n1/knfsd.rpm
1a7214f921ebeea7bbcfce8187e7ba65
source rpm:
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.4/zq1/knfsd.spm
fa4bb28382515648f1c667cbbc019695
SuSE-6.3 (package name is knfsd!):
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.3/n1/knfsd.rpm
9425557d97676df139c3b3cfbcbfb686
source rpm:
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.3/zq1/knfsd.spm
1d4f69b00eedee3530cbd14ede55b985
SuSE-6.2 (package name is linuxnfs!):
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.2/n1/linuxnfs.rpm
c4fbbcbdac7c8640b8ff92643e666ea2
source rpm:
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.2/zq1/linuxnfs.spm
7a006bcc0a8132e8a35e43c087edd493
SuSE-6.1 (package name is linuxnfs!):
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.1/n1/linuxnfs.rpm
e4ae4db716613a94d7f5a2acc5f4ee05
source rpm:
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/6.1/zq1/linuxnfs.spm
879318dd2985fc29d879691044ccc982
AXP Alpha Platform:
SuSE-6.4 (package name is knfsd!):
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/6.4/n1/knfsd.rpm
6596ee4207f3f03b570a872af714a263
source rpm:
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/6.4/zq1/knfsd.spm
14d8c202a1d136e7d88ae02e428925a1
SuSE-6.3 (package name is knfsd!):
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/6.3/n1/knfsd.rpm
728896064200e3fe2e303eba3246a295
source rpm:
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/6.3/zq1/knfsd.spm
6e755c651af95c4f8fd05138a373e8f3
SuSE-6.1 (package name is linuxnfs!):
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/6.1/n1/linuxnfs.rpm
589a11bd867608cb00c93f4b91ba6dce
source rpm:
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/axp/update/6.1/zq1/linuxnfs.spm
8196c617e9585a4906407bf666055508
PPC Power PC Platform:
SuSE-6.4 (package name is knfsd!):
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/6.4/n1/knfsd.rpm
52d64f1104530dac74ab03c508aa2ff4
source rpm:
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/6.4/zq1/knfsd.spm
5cdff95c21484fe01552a0ed80252adc
______________________________________________________________________________
2) Pending vulnerabilities in SuSE Distributions and Workarounds
This section addresses currently known vulnerabilities in Linux/Unix
systems that have not been resolved up to the release date of this
advisory.
- Netscape, versions from 3.0 to 4.73:
The latest version of Netscape is currently being tested. SuSE
Netscape rpms contain efficient workarounds against some "morbid"
properties of Netscape in order to provide stable packages.
These additions are being reworked right now.
Also, cryprographical software export regulations require us to
wait for the permission to redistribute the netscape package from
our US-American ftp server.
There are currently two known vulnerabilities in Netscape versions
from 3.0 to 4.73:
a) a buffer overflow in the jpeg image handling code
b) a security flaw in Netscape's Java implementation
a) has been fixed in Netscape version 4.74. Updated packages
from SuSE will follow soon.
Temporary fix/workaround:
problem a) Turn off automatic image loading and do not
click on images to trigger the download.
problem b) Turn off Java and JavaScript.
- suidperl
The /usr/bin/suidperl perl interpreter in the SuSE Distributions
has file permissions 755 by default. If the admin of a SuSE Linux
system did not change the permission modes and/or the respective
entry in /etc/permissions*, the SuSE Linux system is not vulnerable
to the attack as published on bugtraq.
An advisory announcing updated suidperl packages follows this
announcement on the way to the mailing lists. Further details will
be discussed therein.
Temporary fix/workaround:
chmod -s /usr/bin/suidperl # this is the default.
______________________________________________________________________________
3) standard appendix:
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