__________________________________________________________ The U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability ___ __ __ _ ___ / | /_\ / \___ __|__ / \ \___ __________________________________________________________ INFORMATION BULLETIN Sun AnswerBook2 Vulnerability January 30, 2001 17:00 GMT Number L-031 ______________________________________________________________________________ PROBLEM: Security vulnerabilities exist in the http server (dwhttpd) included in Sun Solaris(tm) AnswerBook2. PLATFORM: Any systems running a version of AnswerBook2 before 1.4.2, AND Answerbook2 version 1.4.2 without the appropriate patch. DAMAGE: A vulnerability exists that allows a malicious user to access the administration of AnswerBook2 as well as the ability to run arbitrary commands on the remote host as the webserver user (daemon). SOLUTION: Update AnswerBook2 to the latest version (at least version 1.4.2) AND install the appropriate AnswerBook2 patch. ______________________________________________________________________________ VULNERABILITY The risk is HIGH. This vulnerability is being actively ASSESSMENT: exploited. ______________________________________________________________________________ [****** Start Sun Microsystems Advisory ******] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ______________________________________________________________________________ Sun Microsystems, Inc. Security Bulletin Bulletin Number: #00196 Date: August 07, 2000 Cross-Ref: S21SEC-004 Title: AnswerBook2 ______________________________________________________________________________ The information contained in this Security Bulletin is provided "AS IS." Sun makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect to the information contained in this Security Bulletin. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF NON-INFRINGEMENT OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED AND EXCLUDED TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW. IN NO EVENT WILL SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE, PROFIT OR DATA, OR FOR DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS SECURITY BULLETIN, EVEN IF SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. If any of the above provisions are held to be in violation of applicable law, void, or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, then such provisions are waived to the extent necessary for this disclaimer to be otherwise enforceable in such jurisdiction. ______________________________________________________________________________ 1. Bulletins Topics Sun announces the release of a new version of AnswerBook2 and patches which relate to security flaws in the http server included with AnswerBook2. Sun recommends that you follow the directions in section 4 to upgrade your AnswerBook2 server and install the listed patch immediately on all systems running AnswerBook2. 2. Who is Affected AnswerBook2: Vulnerable: Any systems running a version of AnswerBook2 before 1.4.2. Answerbook2 version 1.4.2 without the appropriate patch listed below. Not vulnerable: All systems not running AnswerBook2. 3. Understanding the Vulnerability Sun Solaris(tm) AnswerBook2 ships with an HTTP server (dwhttpd) that allows users to access Solaris documentation using a web browser. A vulnerability exists that allows a malicious user to access the administration of AnswerBook2 as well as the ability to run arbitrary commands on the remote host as the webserver user (daemon). 4. Corrective Action Two steps are required to protect against these vulnerabilities. Step 1) Update AnswerBook2 to the latest version (at least version 1.4.2) The latest version of AnswerBook2 can be dowloaded from: http://www.sun.com/software/ab2/dwnld_versions.html Step 2) Install the AnswerBook2 patch Answerbook2 Version Patch ID __________ _________ 1.4.2 110011-02 1.4.2_x86 110012-02 ______________________________________________________________________________ Sun acknowledges, with thanks, Lluis Mora from S21SEC for bringing this vulnerability to our attention. ______________________________________________________________________________ APPENDICES A. Patches listed in this bulletin are available to all Sun customers at: http://sunsolve.sun.com/securitypatch B. Checksums for the patches listed in this bulletin are available at: ftp://sunsolve.sun.com/pub/patches/CHECKSUMS C. Sun security bulletins are available at: http://sunsolve.sun.com/security D. 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This Security Bulletin may be reproduced and distributed, provided that this Security Bulletin is not modified in any way and is attributed to Sun Microsystems, Inc. and provided that such reproduction and distribution is performed for non-commercial purposes. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP 6.5.2 iQCVAwUBOY7g37dzzzOFBFjJAQG80AQAql0n9z1wGQpaL9Ogk6Nqn2yylbTC9aec 3mqDTxHGCdrIrgcxa0SxBT2qlIS+ilSo/JdWYXH21VdNT1p6yp5i4+OMGUfkbMoT RdJqGwf1R5RfgSRVHKIQhcNRaaFK3ebncEMO6zUwp4AEJxfgYxLmbxKcSHTeL8O7 BalPxlyNfnU= =/B+u -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- [****** End Sun Microsystems Advisory ******] ______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Sun Microsystems for the information contained in this bulletin. ______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability, is the computer security incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the emergency backup response team for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CIAC is located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. CIAC is also a founding member of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, a global organization established to foster cooperation and coordination among computer security teams worldwide. CIAC services are available to DOE, DOE contractors, and the NIH. CIAC can be contacted at: Voice: +1 925-422-8193 (7x24) FAX: +1 925-423-8002 STU-III: +1 925-423-2604 E-mail: ciac@llnl.gov Previous CIAC notices, anti-virus software, and other information are available from the CIAC Computer Security Archive. World Wide Web: http://www.ciac.org/ (or http://ciac.llnl.gov -- they're the same machine) Anonymous FTP: ftp.ciac.org (or ciac.llnl.gov -- they're the same machine) PLEASE NOTE: Many users outside of the DOE, ESnet, and NIH computing communities receive CIAC bulletins. If you are not part of these communities, please contact your agency's response team to report incidents. Your agency's team will coordinate with CIAC. The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is a world-wide organization. A list of FIRST member organizations and their constituencies can be obtained via WWW at http://www.first.org/. This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California. 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