-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ______________________________________________________________________________ SuSE Security Announcement Package: Netscape, Versions 4.x, possibly others Date: Wednesday, August 23rd, 2000 03:30 MEST Affected SuSE versions: All Vulnerability Type: remote file viewing, remote buffer overflow Severity (1-10): 4, 7 SuSE default package: yes Other affected systems: all linux systems using this package Content of this advisory: 1) security vulnerability resolved: Netscape problem description, discussion, solution and upgrade information 2) Correction/apology for perl thread, pending vulnerabilities, temporary workarounds 3) standard appendix (further information) ______________________________________________________________________________ 1) problem description, brief discussion, solution, upgrade information Two security problems exist in the netscape package as shipped with SuSE Linux distributions. a) Improper verification in Netscape's jpeg processing code can lead to a buffer overflow where data read from the network can overwrite memory. As a result, arbitrary code from a remote origin could be executed. The attack is particularly dangerous since it can penetrate firewall setups. Netscape version 4.74 fixes (fixed) this vulnerability. b) Due to an error in the java implementation in Netscape, it is possible for an attacker to view files and directories with the priviledges of the user running Netscape if the user visits a malisciously crafted webpage. This issue is known as "Brown Orifice" and requires the user to have Java enabled in her browser configuration. Again, this attack can penetrate firewall setups. See http://www.brumleve.com/BrownOrifice for details. Problem a) can be circumvented by disabling the automatic image loading in Netscape's configuration. The temporary workaround for problem b) is to disable Java in Netscape's configuration menu (to protect against other vulnerabilities, disable JavaScript, too!). Both countermeasures may widely be found inacceptable. SuSE provides an updated package for the vulnerable software. It is strongly recommended to upgrade to the latest version found on our ftp server as described below. The update package introduces Netscape version 4.75, including the SuSE-specific libraries that fix some of Netscape's "irregular" behaviour. Please note that Netscape-4.75 is not available for the glibc-2.0-based SuSE Distributions SuSE-6.0 and 6.1 because Netscape doesn't provide any files for this glibc version. For these distributions, we provide Netscape Version 4.74 which fixes problem a) only. Alternatively, the package for the libc5-based SuSE-5.3 distribution can be used as well if the package 'shlibs5' is installed. This is recommended, since the 5.3 package may be faster and more reliable. Download the update package as described below 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. Due to US-American export restrictions for cryptographical software, we are unable to provide update packages on our US ftp server ftp.suse.com. Instead, the packages can be found on ftp.suse.de. For bandwidth reasons, please use our mirrors or our primary mirror ftp.gwdg.de and follow the directory to your distribution. Example: For SuSE-6.4 use the path ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/6.4_update_de/xap1/netscape.rpm. *********************************************************************** Please note that the path to netscape.rpm in the 6.0 and 6.1 update directories point to Netscape version 4.74 which doesn't fix problem b! See section above! *********************************************************************** Further mirrors can be found at http://www.suse.de/de/support/download/ftp/inland.html, but be advised that not all sites mirror the German part of the update directories. md5sums for the i386 Intel Platform (the only one supported): SuSE Versions 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.0: 70289f88b4c9fc1a9867ba7dac985982 netscape-4.75.glibc21.i386.rpm SuSE Version 5.3 (libc5-based, probably faster, can be used on glibc2-based systems if the package shlibs5 is installed) 679aaf67592244a07733bdabdab67729 netscape-4.75.libc5.i386.rpm SuSE Version 6.0 and 6.1, Netscape-4.74 with incomplete fixes: 4bcc31fe37f7c8d226b437c1daa9b944 netscape-4.74.glibc20.i386.rpm ______________________________________________________________________________ 2) Correction/Apology: In my posting to suse-security@suse.de and to bugtraq@securityfocus.com about the suidperl thread, Subject: "SuSE Security Announcement: suidperl (perl)", dated 10 Aug 2000, I wrote: "A maliciously implemented feature causes the interpreter to spawn the /bin/mail program to"..." This is a bad and embarrassing mistake because of a confusion about the word "maliciously" in this context - it was meant to read "inconsiderate". I apologize to the perl folks for this mistake. Pending vulnerabilities in SuSE Distributions and Workarounds: This section addresses currently known vulnerabilities in Linux/Unix systems that have not been resolved yet as of the release date of this advisory. - ntop ntop is a network statistics visualization utility which offers graphical analysis of network traffic and other statistics with a web browser. By default, ntop listens on port 3000 and requires no or a commonly known authentication password to view the data. ntop is only installed in network server selections and is not activated by default in SuSE Linux installations. The ntop packages shipped with SuSE Linux did not exhibit the unsafe behaviour when a file like /../../etc/passwd is referenced. However, Thomas Biege has reviewed the source of the package and there are still some potential problems with the package that require a major overhaul of the code. Currently, we recommend to disable or even remove the ntop package (`rpm -e ntop') in an environment where security considerations play a role. More information on ntop can be found in ntop's documentation directory /usr/doc/packages/ntop or /usr/share/doc/packages/ntop for SuSE-7.0. - zope SuSE distributions before 7.0 do not contain zope as a package. An updated package for the freshly released SuSE-7.0 is on the way. - xchat A fix for the URL handler vulnerabilty is in progress and will be released within a few days. There is currently no effective and easy workaround other than removing the package by hand (`rpm -e xchat'). More information on xchat can be found in xchat's documentation directory /usr/doc/packages/xchat or /usr/share/doc/packages/xchat for SuSE-7.0. - minicom SuSE's minicom doesn't exhibit the problem with files created belonging to group uucp because /usr/bin/minicom isn't installed sgid uucp by default. Changing this to 2755 root.uucp (manually and in /etc/permissions) doesn't show any defective behaviour either. - xlockmore: After a review of the relevant part of xlock's code we've found that the format string parsing bug posted by bind@SUBTERRAIN.NET on bugtraq on August 15th 2000 is not critical wrt security. xlock drops all privs as soon as it could get hold of the user's encrypted password (which is before it crashes). Other encrypted passwords can't be found in xlock's memory. Since xlock on SuSE distributions runs sgid shadow, it can't dump a core file upon segmentation fault (search /usr/src/linux/kernel/sys.c for "dumpable".) and also can't be traced (/usr/src/linux/arch/i386/kernel/ptrace.c). The bug will be fixed in future releases of the SuSE Linux distribution. The following packages are not contained in SuSE distributions. Therefore, they do not impose any security risks on SuSE systems unless an administrator installed (compiled) the vulnerable software by hand. - FlagShip permissions, from Narrow on bugtraq dated 10 Aug 2000 - VariCAD permissions with RedHat 6.0, from Narrow on bugtraq dated 10 Aug 2000 - usermode, from Connectiva on bugtraq, dated 2000-08-10 - gopherd 2.x, from Mike Schiffman (guardent) on bugtraq, dated 10 Aug 2000, + Chris Sharp on bugtraq dated 20 Aug 2000. - diskcheck perl script, Connectiva sec. adv. on bugtraq dated 2000-08-10 - Statistics Server 5.02x, overflow, from |Zan on bugtraq, dated 10 Aug 2000 - Helix GNOME Updater (helix-update), versions 0.1 through 0.5, from HELIX CODE, INC., on bugtraq, dated 20 Aug 2000 - Darxite overflows, from Guido Bakker on bugtraq, dated 21 Aug 2000 - Gnome-Lokkit ports left exposed, from Alan Cox on bugtraq dated 19 Aug 2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ 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 . 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 . For general information or the frequently asked questions (faq) send mail to: or respectively. =============================================== SuSE's security contact is . =============================================== Regards, Roman Drahtmüller. - - -- - - | Roman Drahtmüller // "Caution: Cape does | SuSE GmbH - Security Phone: // not enable user to fly." | Nürnberg, Germany +49-911-740530 // (Batman Costume warning label) | - - ______________________________________________________________________________ The information in this advisory may be distributed or reproduced, provided that the advisory is not modified in any way. SuSE GmbH makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect to the information contained in this security advisory. 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