__________________________________________________________ The U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Center ___ __ __ _ ___ / | /_\ / \___ __|__ / \ \___ __________________________________________________________ INFORMATION BULLETIN Hewlett-Packard Buffer Overflow in Telnet Server Vulnerability [Hewlett-Packard Company Security Bulletin #023] February 14, 2002 21:00 GMT Number M-043 ______________________________________________________________________________ PROBLEM: There is a buffer overflow in the telnet server code. PLATFORM: Any system running HP Secure OS software for Linux Release 1.0. DAMAGE: A local user could upgrade privileges, up to and including root. SOLUTION: Apply the appropriate RPMs as prescribed below by Hewlett-Packard. ______________________________________________________________________________ VULNERABILITY The risk is MEDIUM. The local user must have a legitimate ASSESSMENT: account to exploit this vulnerability. ______________________________________________________________________________ LINKS: CIAC BULLETIN: http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/m-043.shtml ______________________________________________________________________________ [***** Start Hewlett-Packard Company Security Bulletin #023 *****] --------------------------------------------------------------- HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY SECURITY BULLETIN: #023 Originally issued: 13 February '02 --------------------------------------------------------------- The information in the following Security Bulletin should be acted upon as soon as possible. Hewlett-Packard Company will not be liable for any consequences to any customer resulting from the customer's failure to fully implement instructions in this Security Bulletin as soon as possible. Because the vulnerability does not require a HP Secure OS 1.0 patch or re-packaging of the RPM affected by the bulletin, the RPMs have not been produced or tested by Hewlett-Packard Company. --------------------------------------------------------------- PROBLEM: Buffer overflow in telnet server PLATFORM: Any system running HP Secure OS software for Linux Release 1.0 DAMAGE: Potential unauthorized execution of commands with root privileges SOLUTION: Apply the appropriate RPMs (see section B below) MANUAL ACTIONS: None AVAILABILITY: The RPMs are available now. --------------------------------------------------------------- A. Background A malicious local user could exploit a buffer overflow in the telnet server to gain root access. Telnet server is not included in the default installation of HP Secure OS Software for Linux. B. Fixing the problem Hewlett-Packard Company recommends that customers download the RPMs listed in the following Red Hat Security Advisory: 2002-02-07 telnet (RHSA-2001:099-09) New telnet packages available to fix buffer overflow vulnerabilities http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2001-099.html To install the security bulletin RPMs, use the following sequence of commands: 1. If you use the tripwire product, we recommend that you run a a consistency check and fix any violations before installing the security bulletin RPM. tripwire --check --interactive 2. Install the bulletin RPM from the root account. rpm -F 3. Update the tripwire database tripwire --check --interactive NOTE: The rpm -q command can be used to determine if the package is installed. Hewlett-Packard Company recommends applying the Security Bulletin fixes to installed packages only. The -F option to the RPM installer will only apply the fix if the package is currently installed on the system. Dependent RPMs can be found by using the "Find Latest RPMs" search facility at http://www.redhat.com/apps/download. To find the latest dependent RPM enter the RPM's name in the "By Keyword" box. C. To subscribe to automatically receive future HP Security Bulletins from the HP IT Resource Center via electronic mail, do the following: Use your browser to access the HP IT Resource Center page at: http://itrc.hp.com Use the 'Login' tab at the left side of the screen to login using your ID and password. Use your existing login or the "Register" button at the left to create a login. Remember to save the User ID assigned to you, and your password. This login provides access to many useful areas of the ITRC. In the leftmost frame select "Maintenance and Support". Under the "Notifications" section (near the bottom of the page), select "Support Information Digests". To -subscribe- to future HP Security Bulletins or other Technical Digests, click the check box (in the left column) for the appropriate digest and then click the "Update Subscriptions" button at the bottom of the page. or To -review- bulletins already released, select the link (in the middle column) for the appropriate digest. D. To report new security vulnerabilities, send email to security-alert@hp.com Please encrypt any exploit information using the security-alert PGP key, available from your local key server. You may also get the security-alert PGP key by sending a message with a -subject- (not body) of 'get key' (no quotes) to security-alert@hp.com. Permission is granted for copying and circulating this bulletin to Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) customers (or the Internet community) for the purpose of alerting them to problems, if and only if, the bulletin is not edited or changed in any way, is attributed to HP, and provided such reproduction and/or distribution is performed for non-commercial purposes. Any other use of this information is prohibited. HP is not liable for any misuse of this information by any third party. --------------------------------------------------------------- [***** End Hewlett-Packard Company Security Bulletin #023 *****] _______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Hewlett-Packard Company for the information contained in this bulletin. _______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Center, 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@ciac.org Previous CIAC notices, anti-virus software, and other information are available from the CIAC Computer Security Archive. World Wide Web: http://www.ciac.org/ Anonymous FTP: ftp.ciac.org 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. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the University of California, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. 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