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______________________________________________________________________________

                        SUSE Security Announcement

        Package:                xf86/XFree86
        Announcement-ID:        SuSE-SA:2004:006
        Date:                   Monday, Feb. 23th 2004 16:30 MET
        Affected products:      8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 9.0
                                SuSE Linux Database Server,
                                SuSE eMail Server III, 3.1
                                SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7, 8
                                SuSE Linux Firewall on CD/Admin host
                                SuSE Linux Connectivity Server
                                SuSE Linux Office Server
        Vulnerability Type:     local privilege escalation
        Severity (1-10):        5
        SUSE default package:   yes
        Cross References:       CAN-2004-0083
                                CAN-2004-0084
                                CAN-2004-0106

    Content of this advisory:
        1) security vulnerability resolved:
            - several local buffer overflows in fontfile code
           problem description, discussion, solution and upgrade information
        2) pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds:
            - mutt
            - mod_python
            - mailman
            - metamail
            - libxml2
            - lbreakout
            - pwlib
        3) standard appendix (further information)

______________________________________________________________________________

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

    XFree86 is an open-source X Window System implementation that acts
    as a client-server-based API between different hardware components
    like display, mouse, keyboard and so on.
    Several buffer overflows were found in the fontfile code that handles
    a user-supplied "fonts.alias" file. The file is processed with root
    privileges and therefore a successful exploitation of these bugs leads
    to local root access.

    There is no known workaround.

    Please download the update package for your distribution and verify its
    integrity by the methods listed in section 3) of this announcement.
    Then, to apply the update use the command "rpm -Fhv file.rpm".
    Our maintenance customers are being notified individually. The packages
    are being offered to install from the maintenance web.


    Intel i386 Platform:

    SuSE-9.0:
          dcaadc2b9438995c9a3ac6e4fc7bf181
    patch rpm(s):
          f094861c9a0fbb5f27d168b680fe1a5b
    source rpm(s):
          824c6173693342a033f75c503592e7e0

    SuSE-8.2:
          f1f01280e6e8a5a2f091a04c5836a51d
    patch rpm(s):
          16ba90ef0ad607d1547cda7734b28750
    source rpm(s):
          4100735436d4c8801c6add673fceb29e

    SuSE-8.1:
          9ed1fc5ec83a42a85315391387610e6b
    patch rpm(s):
          9652732385f8670ea9d36151378b7428
    source rpm(s):
          e1d73191d2aabe3a6dda677e6fd716bc

    SuSE-8.0:
          9b69aac017a0ac9905e3fc4e9594d435
    patch rpm(s):
          3076136bcdf20132f343768e4a71c7a2
    source rpm(s):
          1775eef155f4afdc9a3a08ff31a38607



    Opteron x86_64 Platform:

    SuSE-9.0:
          1714cb2eb566fab0e29277db9f9d2572
    patch rpm(s):
          930944efc868b28d87a69a9543206546
    source rpm(s):
          ee67773fcad341912b617d397991ed32
      
______________________________________________________________________________

2)  Pending vulnerabilities in SUSE Distributions and Workarounds:

    - mutt
    The popular email client mutt is vulnerable to a remote denial-of-service
    attack and maybe remote command execution. The bug can be triggered by
    malformed messages that overflow an internal buffer.
    New packages are available on our FTP servers..

    - mod_python
    A remote denial-of-service attack can be triggered against the Apache
    web server by sending a specific query string that is processed by
    mod_python.
    New packages will be available soon.

    - mutt
    The popular email client mutt is vulnerable to a remote denial-of-service
    attack and maybe remote command execution. The bug can be triggered by
    malformed messages that overflow an internal buffer.
    New packages are available on our FTP servers..

    - mailman
    A remote denial-of-service attack can be triggered in mailman 2.0.x
    (CAN-2003-0991).
    New packages will be available soon.

    - metamail
    This update fixes two buffer overflows and two format string bugs
    that can be exploited remotely in conjunction with other tools
    to gain access to a system with the privileges of the user running
    New packages will be available soon.

    - libxml2
    A buffer overflow in the URI parsing cde is fixed. This bug can
    lead to remote access to a system using libxml2.
    New packages will be available soon.

    - lbreakout
    A buffer overflow in lbreakout can be exploited locally to gain
    access to group 'game'. This just affects SuSE Linux 8.1.
    New packages will be available soon.

    - pwlib
    This update addresses several security vulnerabilities that
    may be exploited remotely via applications that link with
    pwlib, like GnomeMeeting or alike.
    New packages will be available soon.

______________________________________________________________________________

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 
       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 disrecommend to subscribe to security 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 
       to verify the signature of the package, where  is the
       filename of the rpm package that you have downloaded. Of course, 
       package authenticity verification can only target an un-installed 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 top-level directory of the first CD (pubring.gpg)
           and at  .


  - 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 announcements 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  or .
    The  public key is listed below.
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