-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----______________________________________________________________________________
SUSE Security Announcement
Package: kernel
Announcement-ID: SUSE-SA:2004:020
Date: Tuesday, Jul 2nd 2004 18:00 MEST
Affected products: 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 9.0, 9.1
SUSE Linux Database Server,
SUSE eMail Server III, 3.1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 7, 8
SUSE Linux Firewall on CD/Admin host
SUSE Linux Connectivity Server
SUSE Linux Office Server
Vulnerability Type: local privilege escalation
Severity (1-10): 6
SUSE default package: yes
Cross References: CAN-2004-0495
CAN-2004-0496
CAN-2004-0497
CAN-2004-0535
CAN-2004-0626
Content of this advisory:
1) security vulnerability resolved:
- chown: users can change the group affiliation of arbitrary
files to the group they belong to
- missing DAC check in chown(2): local privilege escalation
- overflow with signals: local denial-of-service
- pss, mpu401 sound driver: read/write to complete memory
- airo driver: read/write to complete memory
- ALSA: copy_from_user/copy_to_user confused
- acpi_asus: read from random memory
- decnet: write to memory without checking
- e1000 driver: read complete memory
problem description, discussion, solution and upgrade information
2) pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds:
- icecast
- sitecopy
- cadaver
- OpenOffice_org
- tripwire
- postgresql*
- mod_proxy
- freeswan
- ipsec-tools
- less
- libpng
- pavuk
- XFree86*
- kdebase3
3) standard appendix (further information)
______________________________________________________________________________
1) problem description, brief discussion, solution, upgrade information
Multiple security vulnerabilities are being addressed with this security
update of the Linux kernel.
Kernel memory access vulnerabilities are fixed in the e1000, decnet,
acpi_asus, alsa, airo/WLAN, pss and mpu401 drivers. These
vulnerabilities can lead to kernel memory read access, write access
and local denial of service conditions, resulting in access to the
root account for an attacker with a local account on the affected
system.
Missing Discretionary Access Control (DAC) checks in the chown(2) system
call allow an attacker with a local account to change the group
ownership of arbitrary files, which leads to root privileges on affected
systems. It is specific to kernel version 2.6 based systems such as
the SUSE Linux 9.1 product, that only local shell access is needed to
exploit this vulnerability. An interesting variant of the missing
checks is that the ownership of files in the /proc filesystem can be
altered, while the changed ownership still does not allow the files to
be accessed as a non-root user for to be able to exploit the
vulnerability. Systems that are based on a version 2.4 kernel are not
vulnerable to the /proc weakness, and exploitation of the weakness
requires the use of the kernel NFS server (knfsd). If the knfsd NFS
server is not activated (it is off by default), the vulnerability is
not exposed. These issues related to the chown(2) system call have been
discovered by Michael Schroeder and Ruediger Oertel, both SUSE LINUX.
The only network-related vulnerability fixed with the kernel updates
that are subject to this announcement affect the SUSE Linux 9.1
distribution only, as it is based on a 2.6 kernel. Found and reported
to bugtraq by Adam Osuchowski and Tomasz Dubinski, the vulnerability
allows a remote attacker to send a specially crafted TCP packet to a
vulnerable system, causing that system to stall if it makes use of
TCP option matching netfilter rules.
In some rare configurations of the SUSE Linux 9.1 distribution, some
users have experienced stalling systems during system startup. These
problems are fixed with this kernel update.
SPECIAL INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS:
============================= For the impatient: Run YOU (Yast2 Online Update, command
"yast2 online_update" as root) to install the updates (semi)
automatically, if you have a SUSE Linux 8.1 and newer system.
For those who wish to install their kernel updates manually and for
those who use a SUSE Linux 8.0 system:
The following paragraphs will guide you through the installation
process in a step-by-step fashion. The character sequence "****"
marks the beginning of a new paragraph. In some cases, the steps
outlined in a particular paragraph may or may not be applicable
to your situation.
Therefore, please make sure to read through all of the steps below
before attempting any of these procedures.
All of the commands that need to be executed are required to be
run as the superuser (root). Each step relies on the steps before
it to complete successfully.
**** Step 1: Determine the needed kernel type
Please use the following command to find the kernel type that is
installed on your system:
rpm -qf /boot/vmlinuz
Following are the possible kernel types (disregard the version and
build number following the name separated by the "-" character)
k_deflt # default kernel, good for most systems.
k_i386 # kernel for older processors and chipsets
k_athlon # kernel made specifically for AMD Athlon(tm) family processors
k_psmp # kernel for Pentium-I dual processor systems
k_smp # kernel for SMP systems (Pentium-II and above)
k_smp4G # kernel for SMP systems which supports a maximum of 4G of RAM
kernel-64k-pagesize
kernel-bigsmp
kernel-default
kernel-smp
**** Step 2: Download the package for your system
Please download the kernel RPM package for your distribution with the
name as indicated by Step 1. The list of all kernel rpm packages is
appended below. Note: The kernel-source package does not
contain a binary kernel in bootable form. Instead, it contains the
sources that the binary kernel rpm packages are created from. It can be
used by administrators who have decided to build their own kernel.
Since the kernel-source.rpm is an installable (compiled) package that
contains sources for the linux kernel, it is not the source RPM for
the kernel RPM binary packages.
The kernel RPM binary packages for the distributions can be found at the
locations below .
8.0/images/
8.1/rpm/i586
8.2/rpm/i586
9.0/rpm/i586
9.1/rpm/i586
After downloading the kernel RPM package for your system, you should
verify the authenticity of the kernel rpm package using the methods as
listed in section 3) of each SUSE Security Announcement.
**** Step 3: Installing your kernel rpm package
Install the rpm package that you have downloaded in Steps 3 or 4 with
the command
rpm -Uhv --nodeps --force
where is the name of the rpm package that you downloaded.
Warning: After performing this step, your system will likely not be
able to boot if the following steps have not been fully
followed.
If you run SUSE LINUX 8.1 and haven't applied the kernel update
(SUSE-SA:2003:034), AND you are using the freeswan package, you also
need to update the freeswan rpm as a dependency as offered
by YOU (YaST Online Update). The package can be downloaded from
8.1/rpm/i586/
**** Step 4: configuring and creating the initrd
The initrd is a ramdisk that is loaded into the memory of your
system together with the kernel boot image by the bootloader. The
kernel uses the content of this ramdisk to execute commands that must
be run before the kernel can mount its actual root filesystem. It is
usually used to initialize SCSI drivers or NIC drivers for diskless
operation.
The variable INITRD_MODULES in /etc/sysconfig/kernel determines
which kernel modules will be loaded in the initrd before the kernel
has mounted its actual root filesystem. The variable should contain
your SCSI adapter (if any) or filesystem driver modules.
With the installation of the new kernel, the initrd has to be
re-packed with the update kernel modules. Please run the command
mk_initrd
as root to create a new init ramdisk (initrd) for your system.
On SuSE Linux 8.1 and later, this is done automatically when the
RPM is installed.
**** Step 5: bootloader
If you run a SUSE LINUX 8.x, SLES8, or SUSE LINUX 9.x system, there
are two options:
Depending on your software configuration, you have either the lilo
bootloader or the grub bootloader installed and initialized on your
system.
The grub bootloader does not require any further actions to be
performed after the new kernel images have been moved in place by the
rpm Update command.
If you have a lilo bootloader installed and initialized, then the lilo
program must be run as root. Use the command
grep LOADER_TYPE /etc/sysconfig/bootloader
to find out which boot loader is configured. If it is lilo, then you
must run the lilo command as root. If grub is listed, then your system
does not require any bootloader initialization.
Warning: An improperly installed bootloader may render your system
unbootable.
**** Step 6: reboot
If all of the steps above have been successfully completed on your
system, then the new kernel including the kernel modules and the
initrd should be ready to boot. The system needs to be rebooted for
the changes to become active. Please make sure that all steps have
completed, then reboot using the command
shutdown -r now
or
init 6
Your system should now shut down and reboot with the new kernel.
There is no workaround known.
Please download the update package for your distribution and verify its
integrity by the methods listed in section 3) of this announcement.
Then, install the package using the command "rpm -Fhv file.rpm" to apply
the update.
Our maintenance customers are being notified individually. The packages
are being offered to install from the maintenance web.
x86 Platform:
SUSE Linux 9.1:
9.1/rpm/i586/kernel-default-2.6.5-7.95.i586.rpm
800418d3dddf6d3b83925f562842205a
0cb990b159e10685bb29b76d312ddd25
7446bb70f52bce57a914066be4ed8e45
7446bb70f52bce57a914066be4ed8e45
9.1/rpm/i586/kernel-source-2.6.5-7.95.i586.rpm
ede031495ee19d8b6eca1873e7155332
source rpm(s):
620ef40226fec31a773397cf3051bf36
9b61b5a70b304f5554cb18a6bae5b5fd
227c85280ee17a66c8590fe1bb14c596
895fee3033de0810ff1173ce8ee87936
SUSE Linux 9.0:
48be395b96329909486ae3a5152348fa
4cd322b4f511d5fe4c483ed28a82097e
9.0/rpm/i586/k_smp-2.4.21-231.i586.rpm
262e33cebf1b0d35fb6d3235c9ab8815
9.0/rpm/i586/k_smp4G-2.4.21-231.i586.rpm
8d81370f90736b12aa71b9c744f6e0e2
bc59c838c84ba318dc4d24da08a3022e
9.0/rpm/i586/kernel-source-2.4.21-231.i586.rpm
f9586ba982e0398c3e48871955b661aa
source rpm(s):
18673b0bf347fe9557d4e67ca02000c0
71496daac44196b0e0a3836ee6a3b4ed
7c208e9e3f7be1a68c3c8457eb2cafc4
b77863c863aaf4b931bff263220e6ec9
bed7e964e22c5e5d2f5e7a5e3816dde4
6b5137bf379fbfc861441151039575da
SUSE Linux 8.2:
8.2/rpm/i586/k_deflt-2.4.20-115.i586.rpm
50d261b44616f9145a0dc16df501a504
8.2/rpm/i586/k_athlon-2.4.20-115.i586.rpm
10095854c0bdae20991d90b822352e14
a2ef7cfb0e62ad955dda2b0574eb3150
1d2b0d0e2c7998685ed04c24e593b196
d8bf98c46ba5313db286d5706f7fb3b8
source rpm(s):
e13a7b4c2b185cfeb991c31607f79ccb
0e2f2cf20e7d7a20f3e50b245105df61
8.2/rpm/src/k_smp-2.4.20-115.src.rpm
6cfac2914d3827ec562ff9d6be29c566
afd29843aa69d805ef5f25d39ecd0e7f
098a1400a48404931acb8b3eb2e821fb
SUSE Linux 8.1:
8.1/rpm/i586/k_deflt-2.4.21-231.i586.rpm
3bdaa593d09a7cbff632a2c4446d5603
8.1/rpm/i586/k_athlon-2.4.21-231.i586.rpm
ba60d0b2b6d3bc9c38b4e8b3859e1586
ffa8983669004826a0cbedbe34dced76
8.1/rpm/i586/k_psmp-2.4.21-231.i586.rpm
25174fd007f5a39ee0342dd6f18f2eaa
10837fa561cd5104e55d48e46c837764
source rpm(s):
c37e8b87819602e77b14206affef00fa
8.1/rpm/src/k_athlon-2.4.21-231.src.rpm
7be68a677db5a65be1a46ec194b35497
8.1/rpm/src/k_smp-2.4.21-231.src.rpm
8e4b7d5a6bb81da5a00971cdcc4ec641
d8ba1db81a9b517f867c970e4fc443a7
96a0a9242d066083c7bff8e0f70b7bbe
SUSE Linux 8.0:
ec1e53b3812c0c0bd3681435d69fb134
583164e52019ae090fd47e425c2a933e
9ac8983abef05697d75f3117e37e5f18
8.0/images/k_i386-2.4.18-303.i386.rpm
4932c4d6a42fc9be02013f398ab5bb96
8.0/d3/kernel-source-2.4.18.SuSE-303.i386.rpm
b9de0731f9bbc4b016455a6d52cd8296
source rpm(s):
8.0/zq1/k_deflt-2.4.18-303.src.rpm
a73bacad80432c26e856c41338b154bd
8.0/zq1/k_smp-2.4.18-303.src.rpm
782902cd14e7776db66bd61a12beee03
8.0/zq1/k_psmp-2.4.18-303.src.rpm
d71fa5cda488ae18f8d023cd8f28bb73
a360a9e6ed2db54f69e17db36f02614f
8.0/zq1/kernel-source-2.4.18.SuSE-303.nosrc.rpm
8017fd6ff8a6fc1a0660ab35ad174388
x86-64 Platform:
SUSE Linux 9.1:
e2c53fd24991f739fd754c07f7aa8293
f4a69622b7628cdd662a4e39aa59b60e
e71adfb1fc662600eb11d3acf67c3dc3
source rpm(s):
f6a364879d1f2ae2cf854810d61be3ac
a0096d1fc067d89c9200ea3904713d59
bf6d0439cfc37b50b4f6822c3403a74f
SUSE Linux 9.0:
17e008a737e5e95e71335e34fa7f86cf
ca742b550b1a503595b02cbfc9e0e481
8e0c16c42d1a89aa6a09be1dd575de47
source rpm(s):
58b1bf42b5661119d06a04888144707a
5103001136e39fca5a59f4cbde82822b
231c9e5e00f17df8cfd72d6c8a68d9cf
______________________________________________________________________________
2) Pending vulnerabilities in SUSE Distributions and Workarounds:
- icecast
The icecast service is vulnerable to a remote denial-of-service
attack. Update packages will be available soon.
- sitecopy
The sitecopy package includes a vulnerable version of the
neon library (CAN-2004-0179, CAN-2004-0398). Update packages will be
available soon.
- cadaver
The cadaver package includes a vulnerable version of the
neon library (CAN-2004-0179, CAN-2004-0398). Update packages will be
available soon.
- OpenOffice_org
The OpenOffice_org package includes a vulnerable version
of the neon library (CAN-2004-0179, CAN-2004-0398). Update packages
will be available soon.
- tripwire
A format string bug in tripwire can be exploited locally
to gain root permissions.
New packages are available.
- postgresql
A buffer overflow in psqlODBC could be exploited to crash the
application using it. E.g. a PHP script that uses ODBC to access a
PostgreSQL database can be utilized to crash the surrounding Apache
web-server. Other parts of PostgreSQL are not affected.
New packages are available.
- XDM/XFree86
This update resolves random listening to ports by XDM
that allows to connect via the XDMCP. SUSE LINUX 9.1
is affected only.
New packages are available.
- mod_proxy
A buffer overflow can be triggered by malicious remote
servers that return a negative Content-Length value.
This vulnerability can be used to execute commands remotely
New packages are available.
- freeswan
A bug in the certificate chain authentication code could allow an
attacker to authenticate any host against a FreeS/WAN server by
presenting specially crafted certificates wrapped in a PKCS#7 file.
The packages are currently being tested and will be available soon.
- ipsec-tools
The racoon daemon which is responsible for handling IKE messages
fails to reject invalid or self-signed X.509 certificates which
allows for man-in-the-middle attacks on IPsec tunnels established
via racoon.
The packages are currently being tested and will be available soon.
- less
This update fixes a possible symlink attack in lessopen.sh. The
attack can be executed by local users to overwrite arbitrary files
with the privileges of the user running less.
New packages are available.
- libpng
This update adds a missing fix for CAN-2002-1363.
New packages are available.
- pavuk
This update fixes a remotely exploitable buffer overflow in pavuk.
Thanks to Ulf Harnhammar for reporting this to us.
New packages are available.
- kdebase3
This update fixes a possible attack on tmp files created at the
first login of a user using KDE or at the first time running a
KDE application. This bug can be exploited locally to overwrite
arbitrary files with the privilege of the victim user.
Just affects SUSE LINUX 9.1
New packages are available.
______________________________________________________________________________
3) standard appendix: authenticity verification, additional information
- Package authenticity verification:
SUSE update packages are available on many mirror ftp servers around
the world. While this service is considered valuable and important
to the free and open source software community, many users wish to be
certain as to be the origin of the package and its content before
installing the package. There are two independent verification methods
that can be used to prove the authenticity of a downloaded file or
rpm package:
1) md5sums as provided in the (cryptographically signed) announcement.
2) using the internal gpg signatures of the rpm package.
1) execute the command
md5sum
after you have downloaded the file from a SUSE ftp server or its
mirrors. Then, compare the resulting md5sum with the one that is
listed in the announcement. Since the announcement containing the
checksums is cryptographically signed (usually using the key
security@suse.de), the checksums offer proof of the authenticity
of the package.
We recommend against subscribing to security lists which cause the
email message containing the announcement to be modified so that
the signature does not match after transport through the mailing
list software.
Downsides: You must be able to verify the authenticity of the
announcement in the first place. If RPM packages are being rebuilt
and a new version of a package is published on the ftp server, all
md5 sums for the files are useless.
2) rpm package signatures provide an easy way to verify the authenticity
of an rpm package. Use the command
rpm -v --checksig
to verify the signature of the package, where is the
filename of the rpm package that you have downloaded. Of course,
package authenticity verification can only target an un-installed rpm
package file.
Prerequisites:
a) gpg is installed
b) The package is signed using a certain key. The public part of this
key must be installed by the gpg program in the directory
~/.gnupg/ under the user's home directory who performs the
signature verification (usually root). You can import the key
that is used by SUSE in rpm packages for SUSE Linux by saving
this announcement to a file ("announcement.txt") and
running the command (do "su -" to be root):
gpg --batch; gpg < announcement.txt | gpg --import
SUSE Linux distributions version 7.1 and thereafter install the
key "build@suse.de" upon installation or upgrade, provided that
the package gpg is installed. The file containing the public key
is placed at the top-level directory of the first CD (pubring.gpg)
and at .
- SUSE runs two security mailing lists to which any interested party may
subscribe:
suse-security@suse.com
- general/linux/SUSE security discussion.
All SUSE security announcements are sent to this list.
To subscribe, send an email to
.
suse-security-announce@suse.com
- SUSE's announce-only mailing list.
Only SUSE's security announcements are sent to this list.
To subscribe, send an email to
.
For general information or the frequently asked questions (faq)
send mail to:
or
respectively.
==================================================================== SUSE's security contact is or .
The public key is listed below.
====================================================================
