______________________________________________________________________________

                        SuSE Security Announcement

        Package:                pine
        Announcement-ID:        SuSE-SA:2003:037
        Date:                   Thursday, Sep 11th 2003 08:40 MEST
        Affected products:      7.2, 7.3, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2
                                SuSE Linux Database Server,
                                SuSE eMail Server III, 3.1
                                SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7, 8
                                SuSE Linux Firewall on CD/Admin host
                                SuSE Firewall on CD 2
                                SuSE Linux Connectivity Server
                                SuSE Linux Office Server
                                SuSE Linux Desktop 1.0
        Vulnerability Type:     remote code execution
        Severity (1-10):        5
        SuSE default package:   yes
        Cross References:       CAN-2003-0720
                                CAN-2003-0721

    Content of this advisory:
        1) security vulnerability resolved: An integer overflow and a buffer
            overflow in the pine mail reader.
           problem description, discussion, solution and upgrade information
        2) pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds:
            - gkrellmd
            - gdm2
            - kernel/PPC64
            - whois
            - xfs
            - postgresql
        3) standard appendix (further information)

______________________________________________________________________________

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

    The well known and widely used mail client pine is vulnerable to
    a buffer overflow.  The vulnerability exists in the code processing
    'message/external-body' type messages. It allows remote attackers    to execute arbitrary commands as the user running pine.
    Additionally an integer overflow in the MIME header parsing code
    has been fixed.

    Since there is no workaround, an update is strongly recommended for
    pine users.

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




    Intel i386 Platform:

    SuSE-8.2:
      
      c3d94808af56ac9fcc77bec85733bc47
    patch rpm(s):
      
      fff680da5c283d2d50a44419976881a8
    source rpm(s):
      
      327935d468b4cd7794dde00168a901c3

    SuSE-8.1:
      
      63bc3f723537b18a274404c9b30ea784
    patch rpm(s):
      
      1d4711753488a274c8cf168b24c91acf
    source rpm(s):
      
      9617c79c854c2b800df476aa515ae351

    SuSE-8.0:
      
      edea9fbbf85a9f922d2b2aa8bf4a14e8
    patch rpm(s):
      
      18c95a919fb8767f3cff10218ce6c08c
    source rpm(s):
      
      6bf6b39feed23892faceaa78fd13b751

    SuSE-7.3:
      
      65d24983aa99d276e75ccd557eee557b
    source rpm(s):
      
      b0ecee1170d1fdec3b22e98d0941071a

    SuSE-7.2:
      
      574ae6efcf81a53a26d5d19b763f96ab
    source rpm(s):
      
      14fbade46db5dbc9c9893cf507d57e4a




    Sparc Platform:

    SuSE-7.3:
      
      4e90502bfc4ca5b49c20f8a10cb9d473
    source rpm(s):
      
      c600432ad453999aa329b836490842df




    PPC Power PC Platform:

    SuSE-7.3:
      
      0c4323f70d9cc8b95d35f4356351990c
    source rpm(s):
      
      6f6987ad3110ff3bf0bd5edb08ee935a

______________________________________________________________________________

2)  Pending vulnerabilities in SuSE Distributions and Workarounds:

    - gkrellmd
    The gkrellmd, part of the gkrellm package, contains a buffer overflow.
    Only the gkrellm package shipped with SL 8.2 is vulnerable. New update
    packages will be available on our FTP servers soon.

    - gdm2
    The Gnome Display Manager (GDM) contains a bug which allows local
    attackers to view any file on the system. Fixed packages will be available
    on our FTP servers soon.

    - kernel/PPC64
    A locally exploitable vulnerability in the kernel for SLES 8 PowerPC
    based IBM iSeries Systems allows an attacker to overwrite arbitrary kernel
    memory. Update packages are being published on our maintenance web, and
    our customers are being notified individually.

    - whois
    A buffer overflow exists in the whois command. New packages will be
    available on our FTP servers soon.

    - xfs
    The X font server (xfs) contains various integer overflows which could
    allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands. SuSE products
    do not enable xfs by default, but the update packages should be installed
    as soon as they are available on our FTP servers.

    - postgresql
    The SQL database server postgresql of version 7.3.x prior 7.3.4 is
    vulnerable to buffer overflow attacks. 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-subscribe@suse.com>.

    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
                <suse-security-announce-subscribe@suse.com>.

    For general information or the frequently asked questions (faq)
    send mail to:
        <suse-security-info@suse.com> or
        <suse-security-faq@suse.com> respectively.

    ====================================================================    SuSE's security contact is <security@suse.com> or <security@suse.de>.
    The <security@suse.de> public key is listed below.
    ====================================================================______________________________________________________________________________

    The information in this advisory may be distributed or reproduced,
    provided that the advisory is not modified in any way. In particular,
    it is desired that the clear-text signature shows proof of the
    authenticity of the text.
    SuSE Linux AG makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect
    to the information contained in this security advisory.

Type Bits/KeyID    Date       User ID
pub  2048R/3D25D3D9 1999-03-06 SuSE Security Team <security@suse.de>
pub  1024D/9C800ACA 2000-10-19 SuSE Package Signing Key <build@suse.de>