Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 12:05:09 -0800
From: SGI Security Coordinator <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]Subject: IRIX nedit vulnerability
Cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
______________________________________________________________________________
SGI Security Advisory
Title: IRIX NEdit Vulnerability
Number: 20011105-01-P
Date: November 30, 2001
______________________________________________________________________________
- -----------------------
- --- Issue Specifics ---
- -----------------------
Security Focus has reported a vulnerability related to the way the NEdit
editor creates temporary files. A problem with the software could make it
possible to overwrite any file owned by a user of the editor. It is possible
to create a symbolic link to a file owned by the user of the editor, which
will result in the linked file being overwritten by the data in the
temporary file.
This vulnerability makes it possible to corrupt files owned by another user,
or gain the privileges of another user.
SGI has investigated the issue and recommends the following steps for
neutralizing the exposure. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that these measures be
implemented on ALL vulnerable SGI systems. This issue has been corrected in
future releases of IRIX.
- --------------
- --- Impact ---
- --------------
Since the introduction of IRIX 6.5, nedit is installed by default if the
Applications CD is opened during the OS installation procedure.
A local user account on the vulnerable system is required in order to
exploit these shells.
The exploitation of these temporary files can lead to a root compromise.
This could be the case in the context of shell scripts run as root.
This vulnerability was announced to Bugtraq in a SuSE Security Advisory on
April 18, 2001 and has been publicly discussed in Usenet newsgroups
and security mailing lists.
See http://www.securityfocus.com/cgi-bin/vulns-item.pl?section=info&id=2627
for additional details.
- ----------------------------
- --- Temporary Workaround ---
- ----------------------------
SGI acknowledges that it may not always be possible to immediately install
patches or upgrade the operating system. In those cases, we recommend
removing the nedit editor from your system by executing the following
command:
# versions remove nedit.sw.nedit
It is not necessary to reboot the system after doing this. Then, when it is
possible to install the patch or upgrade the operating system, reinstall
nedit.sw.nedit and then follow the instructions below.
- ----------------
- --- Solution ---
- ----------------
SGI has provided a patch for these vulnerabilities for IRIX 6.5.11 through
6.5.13. The problem has been fixed in IRIX 6.5.14. Our recommendation is to
upgrade to IRIX 6.5.14.
IRIX 6.5.14m is available for free from:
http://support.sgi.com/colls/patches/tools/relstream/index.html
OS Version Vulnerable? Patch # Other Actions
---------- ----------- ------- -------------
IRIX 3.x unknown Note 1
IRIX 4.x unknown Note 1
IRIX 5.x unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.0.x unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.1 unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.2 unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.3 unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.4 unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.5 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.1 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.2 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.3 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.4 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.5 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.6 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.7 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.8 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.9 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.10 yes Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.11 yes 4383
IRIX 6.5.12 yes 4383
IRIX 6.5.13 yes 4383
IRIX 6.5.14 no
NOTES
1) This version of the IRIX operating has been retired.
Upgrade to an actively supported IRIX operating system.
See http://support.sgi.com/irix/news/index.html#policy
for more information.
2) Download the IRIX 6.5.14 Maintenance Release Stream from the URL:
http://support.sgi.com/colls/patches/tools/relstream/index.html
3) If you have not received an IRIX 6.5.X CD for IRIX 6.5, contact your
SGI Support Provider or URL: http://support.sgi.com/irix/swupdates/
##### Patch File Checksums ####
The actual patch will be a tar file containing the following files:
Filename: README.patch.4383
Algorithm #1 (sum -r): 20544 8 README.patch.4383
Algorithm #2 (sum): 44806 8 README.patch.4383
MD5 checksum: 738195F5C6B1AF8744B0139A93E19904
Filename: patchSG0004383
Algorithm #1 (sum -r): 43575 2 patchSG0004383
Algorithm #2 (sum): 39336 2 patchSG0004383
MD5 checksum: A7ECFAC77780974B93EDA45A82551646
Filename: patchSG0004383.idb
Algorithm #1 (sum -r): 60521 3 patchSG0004383.idb
Algorithm #2 (sum): 37703 3 patchSG0004383.idb
MD5 checksum: 3139497E96A844E8A307C7F7873A8C0D
Filename: patchSG0004383.nedit_sw
Algorithm #1 (sum -r): 53635 1257 patchSG0004383.nedit_sw
Algorithm #2 (sum): 50764 1257 patchSG0004383.nedit_sw
MD5 checksum: 5F05B7BCBB440383025BC66248ACD3E0
- -------------------
- --- Information ---
- -------------------
SGI Security Advisories can be found at:
http://www.sgi.com/support/security/ and
ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/advisories/
SGI Security Patches can be found at:
http://www.sgi.com/support/security/ and
ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/patches/
SGI patches for IRIX can be found at the following patch servers:
http://support.sgi.com/irix/ and ftp://patches.sgi.com/
SGI freeware updates for IRIX can be found at:
http://freeware.sgi.com/
SGI fixes for SGI open sourced code can be found on:
http://oss.sgi.com/projects/
SGI patches and RPMs for Linux can be found at:
http://support.sgi.com/linux/ or
http://oss.sgi.com/projects/sgilinux-combined/download/security-fixes/
SGI patches for Windows NT or 2000 can be found at:
http://support.sgi.com/nt/
IRIX 5.2-6.4 Recommended/Required Patch Sets can be found at:
http://support.sgi.com/irix/ and ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/patchset/
IRIX 6.5 Maintenance Release Streams can be found at:
http://support.sgi.com/colls/patches/tools/relstream/index.html
IRIX 6.5 Software Update CDs can be obtained from:
http://support.sgi.com/irix/swupdates/
The primary SGI anonymous FTP site for security advisories and patches is
patches.sgi.com (216.32.174.211). Security advisories and patches are
located under the URL ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/
For security and patch management reasons, ftp.sgi.com (mirrors
patches.sgi.com security FTP repository) lags behind and does not do a
real-time update.
- ------------------------
- --- Acknowledgments ----
- ------------------------
SGI wishes to thank SuSE Linux, Security Focus and the users of the Internet
Community at large for their assistance in this matter.
- -----------------------------------------
- --- SGI Security Information/Contacts ---
- -----------------------------------------
If there are questions about this document, email can be sent to
[email protected].
------oOo------
SGI provides security information and patches for use by the entire SGI
community. This information is freely available to any person needing the
information and is available via anonymous FTP and the Web.
The primary SGI anonymous FTP site for security advisories and patches is
patches.sgi.com (216.32.174.211). Security advisories and patches are
located under the URL ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/
The SGI Security Headquarters Web page is accessible at the URL:
http://www.sgi.com/support/security/
For issues with the patches on the FTP sites, email can be sent to
[email protected].
For assistance obtaining or working with security patches, please
contact your SGI support provider.
------oOo------
SGI provides a free security mailing list service called wiretap and
encourages interested parties to self-subscribe to receive (via email) all
SGI Security Advisories when they are released. Subscribing to the mailing
list can be done via the Web
(http://www.sgi.com/support/security/wiretap.html) or by sending email to
SGI as outlined below.
% mail [email protected]
subscribe wiretap <YourEmailAddress>
end
^d
In the example above, <YourEmailAddress> is the email address that you wish
the mailing list information sent to. The word end must be on a separate
line to indicate the end of the body of the message. The control-d (^d) is
used to indicate to the mail program that you are finished composing the
mail message.
------oOo------
SGI provides a comprehensive customer World Wide Web site. This site is
located at http://www.sgi.com/support/security/ .
------oOo------
If there are general security questions on SGI systems, email can be sent to
[email protected].
For reporting *NEW* SGI security issues, email can be sent to
[email protected] or contact your SGI support provider. A support
contract is not required for submitting a security report.
______________________________________________________________________________
This information is provided freely to all interested parties
and may be redistributed provided that it is not altered in any
way, SGI is appropriately credited and the document retains and
includes its valid PGP signature.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2
iQCVAwUBPAflorQ4cFApAP75AQGj3QQAoQ8mtFXTBJj23JLyGhkywQ3pNKfr0O/m
R0DwEtS+dkcIjS/rTQhprHrgdE/Nm2F2Lau5qHIw9J2OUGxBhKQg9IvyN6Tz7CXr
2TX59J/SdaX5MH3UtAnpRsuT27qkbYnoUccRY46TDoX47R1jDQAyPQ0FomJAJqUP
/fdNJbfCxFM=
=nHBP
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
