****************************************************************************** ------ ----- ----- --- ----- | ----- ---- | | | | | |--- | | | | | | | | | |-- | | | | |-- | | | | | | | | \ | | ----- ---- ----- ----- | \ ----- A D V I S O R Y FA-97.74 ****************************************************************************** Topic: Potential denial of service attack in the OSF/DCE security server Source: The Open Group Creation Date: 10/27/97 Last Updated: To aid in the wide distribution of essential security information, FedCIRC is forwarding the following information from CERT Vendor Bulletin VB-97.12.opengroup. FedCIRC urges you to act on this information as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please contact FedCIRC: Telephone: +1 888 282 0870 Email: fedcirc@fedcirc.gov =======================FORWARDED TEXT STARTS HERE============================ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ============================================================================= CERT* Vendor-Initiated Bulletin VB-97.12 October 27, 1997 Topic: Potential denial of service attack in the OSF/DCE security server Source: The Open Group To aid in the wide distribution of essential security information, the CERT Coordination Center is forwarding the following information from The Open Group. Open Group urges you to act on this information as soon as possible. Open Group contact information is included in the forwarded text below; please contact them if you have any questions or need further information. =======================FORWARDED TEXT STARTS HERE============================ Advisory on OSF/DCE Denial of Service Attack October 23, 1997 It has been discovered that OSF/DCE has a potential problem in the security server that could allow for a denial of service attack. PROBLEM: If a principal, group, or organization is greater than 1024 characters (including the cell name, so the actual name limit is less than 1024) when passed to security daemon (secd), it will cause secd core dump. The buffer is overrun causing memory corruption. In certain cases, the lookup attempt (or add or whatever) on the client will then rebind to another secd to make the request, eventually crashing all security daemons in the cell. HOW TO AVOID: This potential denial of service attack has existed in all releases of OSF/DCE to date. The Open Group sent a notification to all current DCE support licensees providing the following fix. The Open Group is in the process of incorporating a fix for this defect to all future DCE maintenance releases. The end-users may ask their DCE vendors for such a fix. SOURCE CODE FIX: The quick fix is the following: In rsdb_name_util.c, the "rsdb_name_util_complete_name" routine should perform the following check after the ustrncpy. /* Retrieve the name_key record of the given domain directory. */ if(!check_domain(domain)) { SET_STATUS(st, sec_rgy_bad_domain); return false; } rsdb_util_get_key_of_id(domain, START_OF_LIST, (Pointer)&name_key, &name_key_len); ustrncpy(complete_name, name_key.name, name_key.name_len); complete_name[name_key.name_len] = '\0'; #ifdef FIX if (object_name_len < 1 || object_name_len + name_key.name_len + 1 > sec_rgy_name_t_size - 1) { return false; } #endif /* FIX */ if(object_name_len > 0) { ustrcat(complete_name, "/"); ustrcat(complete_name, object_name); } return true; CONTACT INFORMATION: The Open Group DCE Systems Engineering The Open Group 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142 Telephone: +1 617 621 8990 E-mail: dce-support-admin@opengroup.org ========================FORWARDED TEXT ENDS HERE============================= If you believe that your system has been compromised, contact the CERT Coordination Center or your representative in the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST). See http://www.first.org/team-info/. We strongly urge you to encrypt any sensitive information you send by email. The CERT Coordination Center can support a shared DES key and PGP. Contact the CERT staff for more information. Location of CERT PGP key ftp://ftp.cert.org/pub/CERT_PGP.key CERT Contact Information - ------------------------ Email cert@cert.org Phone +1 412-268-7090 (24-hour hotline) CERT personnel answer 8:30-5:00 p.m. EST (GMT-5)/EDT(GMT-4), and are on call for emergencies during other hours. Fax +1 412-268-6989 Postal address CERT Coordination Center Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890 USA CERT publications, information about FIRST representatives, and other security-related information are available from http://www.cert.org/ ftp://ftp.cert.org/pub/ CERT advisories and bulletins are also posted on the USENET newsgroup comp.security.announce To be added to our mailing list for CERT advisories and bulletins, send your email address to cert-advisory-request@cert.org In the subject line, type SUBSCRIBE your-email-address * Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The CERT Coordination Center is part of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). The SEI is sponsored by the U. S. Department of Defense. This file: ftp://ftp.cert.org/pub/cert_bulletins/VB-97.12.opengroup -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBNFSoTHVP+x0t4w7BAQGGwQQAjVF6VVzd07vrkznNsU3eYhxHRJFt71ba oSaWXzBBOy6lZHsettmfiIvjPiVxUezeYuppJHiVz9VtHjfseSbZmgNXCyu822bp SwgMK2InkdbQ5AvL+tDaJWQ9OnDWlpv2Z6yUalA7rLywXKKvEpiWTNziXFg9Doju qpNcuRBXAn4= =BmEZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ========================FORWARDED TEXT ENDS HERE============================= The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has established a Federal Computer Incident response Capability (FedCIRC) to assist federal civilians agencies in their incident handling efforts by providing proactive and reactive computer security related services. FedCIRC is a partnership among NIST, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC), and the CERT* Coordination Center (CERT/CC). If you believe that your system has been compromised, please contact FedCIRC: Telephone: +1 888 282 0870 Email: fedcirc@fedcirc.gov Web Server: http://www.fedcirc.gov/ * Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office The CERT Coordination Center is part of the Software Engineering Institute. The Software Engineering Institute is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability, is the computer security incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the emergency backup response team for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CIAC is located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. CIAC is also a founding member of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, a global organization established to foster cooperation and coordination among computer security teams worldwide. This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the University of California, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.