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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 & 7: Security Update RHSA-2014:1999-01 for mailx

red hat
Calendar Grey December 16, 2014
Dist Redhat Esm H88
Cautionary advisory for mailx security patch on Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 6 and 7, focusing on the resolution of two distinct security vulnerabilities.
Updated mailx packages that fix two security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

Summary

The mailx packages contain a mail user agent that is used to manage mail using scripts.
A flaw was found in the way mailx handled the parsing of email addresses. A syntactically valid email address could allow a local attacker to cause mailx to execute arbitrary shell commands through shell meta-characters and the direct command execution functionality. (CVE-2004-2771, CVE-2014-7844)
Note: Applications using mailx to send email to addresses obtained from untrusted sources will still remain vulnerable to other attacks if they accept email addresses which start with "-" (so that they can be confused with mailx options). To counteract this issue, this update also introduces the "--" option, which will treat the remaining command line arguments as email addresses.
All mailx users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory security issue Red Hat command execution moderate severity mailx

References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2004-2771 https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2014-7844 https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification#moderate

Package List

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6):
Source: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.src.rpm
i386: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.i686.rpm mailx-debuginfo-12.4-8.el6_6.i686.rpm
x86_64: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.x86_64.rpm mailx-debuginfo-12.4-8.el6_6.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6):
Source: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.src.rpm
x86_64: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.x86_64.rpm mailx-debuginfo-12.4-8.el6_6.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6):
Source: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.src.rpm
i386: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.i686.rpm mailx-debuginfo-12.4-8.el6_6.i686.rpm
ppc64: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.ppc64.rpm mailx-debuginfo-12.4-8.el6_6.ppc64.rpm
s390x: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.s390x.rpm mailx-debuginfo-12.4-8.el6_6.s390x.rpm
x86_64: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.x86_64.rpm mailx-debuginfo-12.4-8.el6_6.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6):
Source: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.src.rpm
i386: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.i686.rpm mailx-debuginfo-12.4-8.el6_6.i686.rpm
x86_64: mailx-12.4-8.el6_6.x86_64.rpm mailx-debuginfo-12.4-8.el6_6.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7):
Source: mailx-12.5-12.el7_0.src.rpm
x86_64: mailx-12.5-12.el7_0.x86_64.rpm mailx-debuginfo-12.5-12.el7_0.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7):
Source: mailx-12.5-12.el7_0.src.rpm
x86_64: mailx-12.5-12.el7_0.x86_64.rpm

Read the Full Advisory


Advisory ID: RHSA-2014:1999-01
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Advisory URL: https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014:1999.html
Issue date: 2014-12-16

Topic

Updated mailx packages that fix two security issues are now available forRed Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7.Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having Moderate securityimpact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores, which givedetailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability from theCVE links in the References section.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory security issue Red Hat command execution moderate severity mailx

Relevant Releases Architectures

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) - i386, ppc64, s390x, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) - ppc64, s390x, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) - x86_64

Bugs Fixed

1162783 - CVE-2004-2771 CVE-2014-7844 mailx: command execution flaw

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