______________________________________________________________________________

                        SuSE Security Announcement

        Package:                wuftpd
        Announcement-ID:        SuSE-SA:2003:032
        Date:                   Thursday, July 31st 2003 18:00 MEST
        Affected products:      7.2, 7.3
                                SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7
                                SuSE Linux Connectivity Server
                                SuSE Linux Office Server
        Vulnerability Type:     remote buffer overflow
        Severity (1-10):        7
        SuSE default package:   no
        Cross References:       CAN-2003-0466

    Content of this advisory:
        1) security vulnerability resolved: wuftpd
           problem description, discussion, solution and upgrade information
        2) pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds
        3) standard appendix (further information)

______________________________________________________________________________

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

    Janusz Niewiadomski and Wojciech Purczynski of iSEC Security Research
    have found a single byte buffer overflow in the Washington University
    ftp daemon (wuftpd), a widely used ftp server for Linux-like systems.
    It is yet unclear if this bug is (remotely) exploitable. Positive
    exploitability may result in a remote root compromise of a system
    running the wuftpd ftp daemon.

    Notes:
    * SuSE Linux products do not contain wuftpd any more starting with SuSE
      Linux 8.0 and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8. The wuftpd package has
      been substituted by a different server implementation of the file
      transfer protocol server.
    * The affected wuftpd packages in products as stated in the header of
      this announcement actually ship two different wuftpd ftp daemon
      versions: The older version 2.4.x that is installed as
      /usr/sbin/wu.ftpd, the newer version 2.6 is installed as
      /usr/sbin/wu.ftpd-2.6 . The 2.4.x version does not contain the
      defective parts of the code and is therefore not vulnerable to the
      weakness found.
    * If you are using the wuftpd ftp daemon in version 2.4.x, you might
      want to update the package anyway in order not to risk an insecure
      configuration once you switch to the newer version.

    There exists no workaround that can fix this vulnerability on a temporary
    basis other than just using the 2.4.x version as mentioned above.
    The proper fix for the weakness is to update the package using the
    provided update packages.

    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-7.3:
      
      9f786439f4efc289dbaee78a8c873b56
    source rpm(s):
      
      6f748bfc27cc44ade2c2044365fb825a

    SuSE-7.2:
      
      077463a6387d8b596cfedb6f80d765aa
    source rpm(s):
      
      5bd18ea86422a84338fc1827362e8bdc



    Sparc Platform:

    SuSE-7.3:
      
      985a2bdcb25ec5283a00784810b28050
    source rpm(s):
      
      49d647216d0f1b22a5a326887d8ef955



    PPC Power PC Platform:

    SuSE-7.3:
      
      f8b1276d87cb5dcb4aca89054015a353
    source rpm(s):
      
      07ff383965af6b860e5cfda95efa2fce



______________________________________________________________________________

2)  Pending vulnerabilities in SuSE Distributions and Workarounds:

    - gnats
    Several security bugs were reported in gnats. The version of gnats
    that comes with SuSE Linux is not vulnerable to these problems.

    - kopete
    Kopete is the KDE instant messenger. A bug in kopete's gpg plugin can
    be abused to execute commands remotely. A fix will be available as
    soon as possible.

    - wget
    When handling long URLs, a buffer underrun may occur in the wget
    program. This underrun may be exploitable remotely. The update
    packages are available now on our ftp servers.

    - emacs
    Due to insecure temporary file handling in the semi and wemi library
    of GNU Emacs it is possible for a local attacker to overwrite
    arbitrary files of the user running emacs. The fix is currently being
    worked on.

    - ethereal
    Several remote exploitable bugs were found in the network analyzing
    tool ethereal. The update packages are available on our ftp servers.


    - tomcat
    Wrong file permission and clear passwords in the tomcat default
    installation allows local users to gain security relevant data by
    reading the file /opt/jakarta/tomcat/conf/tomcat-users.xml.
    Please enable password encryption and revoke the read permissions
    for 'group' and 'others' by adding the following line to
    /etc/permissions.local:
      /opt/jakarta/tomcat/conf/tomcat-users.xml wwwrun.root 0700
    and run the following command as root:
      "chkstat -set /etc/permissions.local"

    - heartbeat
    A format string bug in heartbeat's debug code can be exploited
    by a remote attacker if the debug level is high and the heartbeat
    daemon in configuered in an unsecure manner. The update packages are
    being tested right now.

    - freeradius
    A buffer overflow in the CHAP implementation of freeradius leads to a
    remotely exploitable security hole which can be abused to execute
    arbitrary code on the RADIUS server. The update packages are being
    tested right now.

    - traceroute(-nanog)
    An integer overflow in traceroute-nanog can be abused to gain
    access to the raw ip socket.
    We are working on the fix.

    - kdelibs
    Due to the fact of verifying the IP address instead of the Common
    Name (CN) field of the X.509 certificate the SSL implementation of
    KDE 2.2 and earlier is vulnerable to a MiM attack.
    Only SuSE Linux 7.3 is affected by this problem. Update packages
    are available on our FTP servers.

    - man
    The mandb program which is part of the man package contains a
    buffer overflow which allows local attackers to execute arbitrary
    code as man user. New packages are already availabale on our ftp
    servers.

    - several minor bug fixes
    There are alot more minor security updates in the queue. YOU (Yast
    Online Update) will inform you when they appear. Alternatively you
    may want to monitor the following website:
       SUSE – Open-Source-Lösungen für Enterprise Server und Cloud | SUSE
    or:
       SUSE – Open-Source-Lösungen für Enterprise Server und Cloud | SUSE


______________________________________________________________________________

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>