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Red Hat: RHSA-2011-1154 Important: libXfont Buffer Overflow Fix

red hat
Calendar Grey August 11, 2011
Scroller Redhat
Important announcement regarding libXfont due to a critical vulnerability, specifically a buffer overflow issue, affecting versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6.
Updated libXfont packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6

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/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Summary

The libXfont packages provide the X.Org libXfont runtime library. X.Org is an open source implementation of the X Window System.
A buffer overflow flaw was found in the way the libXfont library, used by the X.Org server, handled malformed font files compressed using UNIX compress. A malicious, local user could exploit this issue to potentially execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the X.Org server. (CVE-2011-2895)
Users of libXfont should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to resolve this issue. All running X.Org server instances must be restarted for the update to take effect.

References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2011-2895 https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification#important

Package List

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client):
Source:
i386: libXfont-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm libXfont-debuginfo-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm
x86_64: libXfont-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm libXfont-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.x86_64.rpm libXfont-debuginfo-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm libXfont-debuginfo-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.x86_64.rpm
RHEL Desktop Workstation (v. 5 client):
Source:
i386: libXfont-debuginfo-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm libXfont-devel-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm
x86_64: libXfont-debuginfo-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm libXfont-debuginfo-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.x86_64.rpm libXfont-devel-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm libXfont-devel-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server):
Source:
i386: libXfont-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm libXfont-debuginfo-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm libXfont-devel-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.i386.rpm
ia64: libXfont-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.ia64.rpm libXfont-debuginfo-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.ia64.rpm libXfont-devel-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.ia64.rpm
ppc: libXfont-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.ppc.rpm libXfont-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.ppc64.rpm libXfont-debuginfo-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.ppc.rpm libXfont-debuginfo-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.ppc64.rpm libXfont-devel-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.ppc.rpm libXfont-devel-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.ppc64.rpm
s390x: libXfont-1.2.2-1.0.4.el5_7.s390.rpm

Read the Full Advisory


Severity
important
Lowest
Low
Medium
High
Critical

Advisory ID: RHSA-2011:1154-01
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Issue date: 2011-08-11

Topic

Updated libXfont packages that fix one security issue are now available forRed Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6.The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as havingimportant security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from theCVE link in the References section.

Relevant Releases Architectures

RHEL Desktop Workstation (v. 5 client) - i386, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) - i386, ia64, ppc, s390x, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) - i386, x86_64

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bugs Fixed

725760 - CVE-2011-2895 libXfont: LZW decompression heap corruption / infinite loop

727624 - CVE-2011-2895 BSD compress LZW decoder buffer overflow

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