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Gentoo Linux Security Advisory                           GLSA 200410-03
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                                            https://security.gentoo.org/
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  Severity: High
     Title: NetKit-telnetd: buffer overflows in telnet and telnetd
      Date: October 05, 2004
      Bugs: #64632
        ID: 200410-03

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Synopsis
=======
Buffer overflows exist in the telnet client and daemon provided by
netkit-telnetd, which could possibly allow a remote attacker to gain
root privileges and compromise the system.

Background
=========
NetKit-telnetd is a standard Linux telnet client and server from the
NetKit utilities.

Affected packages
================
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
     Package                  /  Vulnerable  /              Unaffected
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
  1  net-misc/netkit-telnetd     <= 0.17-r3                 >= 0.17-r4

Description
==========
A possible buffer overflow exists in the parsing of option strings by
the telnet daemon, where proper bounds checking is not applied when
writing to a buffer. Additionaly, another possible buffer overflow has
been found by Josh Martin in the handling of the environment variable
HOME.

Impact
=====
A remote attacker sending a specially-crafted options string to the
telnet daemon could be able to run arbitrary code with the privileges
of the user running the telnet daemon, usually root. Furthermore, an
attacker could make use of an overlong HOME variable to cause a buffer
overflow in the telnet client, potentially leading to the local
execution of arbitrary code.

Workaround
=========
There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution
=========
All NetKit-telnetd users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge sync

    # emerge -pv ">=net-misc/netkit-telnetd-0.17-r4"
    # emerge ">=net-misc/netkit-telnetd-0.17-r4"

References
=========
  [ 1 ] CVE-2001-0554
          [ 2 ] Debian Bug #264846
        
Availability
===========
This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at
the Gentoo Security Website:

  https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/200410-03

Concerns?
========
Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the
confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost
importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to
security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at
https://bugs.gentoo.org/.

License
======
Copyright 2004 Gentoo Foundation, Inc; referenced text
belongs to its owner(s).

The contents of this document are licensed under the
Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike license.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/