MCI Telecommunications internetMCI Security Group Report Name: iMCI MIIGS Security Alert Report Number: iMCISE:IMCICERT:121496:01:P1R1 Report Date: 12/14/96 Report Format: Formal Report Classification: MCI Informational Report Reference: http://www.security.mci.net Report Distribution: iMCI Security, MCI Internal Internet Gateway Security (MIIGS), MCI Emergency Alert LiSt (MEALS) (names on file) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ============================================================================= CERT(sm) Vendor-Initiated Bulletin VB-96.20 December 12, 1996 Topic: Security Vulnerabilities in HP Remote Watch Source: Hewlett-Packard Company To aid in the wide distribution of essential security information, the CERT Coordination Center is forwarding the following information from Hewlett-Packard Company. Hewlett-Packard urges you to act on this information as soon as possible. Their 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============================ ============================================================================ === Document Id: [HPSBUX9610-039] Date Loaded: [10-24-96] Description: Security Vulnerabilities in HP Remote Watch ============================================================================ === - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEWLETT-PACKARD SECURITY ADVISORY: #000039, 24 October 1996 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hewlett-Packard recommends that the information in the following Security Advisory should be acted upon as soon as possible. Hewlett- Packard will not be liable for any consequences to any customer resulting from customer's failure to fully implement instructions in this Security Advisory as soon as possible. Permission is granted for copying and circulating this advisory to Hewlett-Packard (HP) customers (or the Internet community) for the purpose of alerting them to problems, if and only if, the advisory is not edited or changed in any way, is attributed to HP, and provided such reproduction and/or distribution is performed for non-commercial purposes. Any other use of this information is prohibited. HP is not liable for any misuse of this information by any third party. _______________________________________________________________________ PROBLEM: Vulnerability in HP Remote Watch in 9.X releases of HP-UX PLATFORM: HP 9000 series 300/400/700/800s DAMAGE: Vulnerabilities in HP Remote Watch exists allowing users to gain additional privileges. SOLUTION: Do not use Remote Watch. _______________________________________________________________________ I. Remote Watch Update A. Problem description A recent mailing list disclosure described two vulnerabilities in which HP Remote Watch allows unauthorized root access. The first was via a socket connection on port 5556. The second was as a result of using the showdisk utility, which is part of the Remote Watch product. It has been found that HP9000 Series 300, 400, 700, and 800 systems running only HP-UX Release 9.X have this vulnerability. B. Fixing the problem This vulnerability can only be eliminated from releases 9.X of HP-UX which are using Remote Watch by disabling the entire product. The default location for this product is /usr/remwatch/ . Removal can be accomplished (as root) with the following: NOTE: Do not run the standard rmfn command as HP has discovered problems with its inability to handle programs with active executables. Instead, run (with no options): /usr/remwatch/bin/removeall This runs a Remote Watch script called "unconfigure" to stop actively running programs, then proceeds to remove all files including the filesets. The administrator should also perform both of the following steps: 1. Remove or comment out the following entry in /etc/inetd.conf file: rwdaemon stream tcp nowait root /usr/remwatch/bin/rwdaemon rwdaemon 2. Have inetd re-read its configuration file by executing at the prompt: inetd -c This is the official recommendation from Hewlett-Packard Company. C. Current product status Remote Watch was last released from the labs in August of 1993. In December 1994 customers were informed of pending product obsolescence. Hewlett-Packard recommends that all customers concerned with the security of their HP-UX systems with Remote Watch configured on it perform the actions described herein as soon as possible. Again, no patches will be available for any versions of HP-UX. Since the functionality of HP Remote Watch software has now been replicated in other tools that handle system management more effectively there is no longer a sufficient need for HP Remote Watch. Most of the functionality is now provided by the Systems Administration Manager (SAM) tool, available at no charge as part of the HP-UX operating system, or by the HP OpenView OperationsCenter application. If further assistance is desired please contact your HP Support Representative. D. HP SupportLine To subscribe to automatically receive future NEW HP Security Bulletins from the HP SupportLine mail service via electronic mail, send an email message to: support@us.external.hp.com (no Subject is required) Multiple instructions are allowed in the TEXT PORTION OF THE MESSAGE, here are some basic instructions you may want to use: To add your name to the subscription list for new security bulletins, send the following in the TEXT PORTION OF THE MESSAGE: subscribe security_info To retrieve the index of all HP Security Bulletins issued to date, send the following in the TEXT PORTION OF THE MESSAGE: send security_info_list To get a patch matrix of current HP-UX and BLS security patches referenced by either Security Bulletin or Platform/OS, put the following in the text portion of your message: send hp-ux_patch_matrix World Wide Web service for browsing of bulletins is available via our URL: http://us.external.hp.com Choose "Support news", then under Support news, choose "Security Bulletins" E. To report new security vulnerabilities, send email to security-alert@hp.com Please encrypt exploit information using the security-alert PGP key, available from your local key server, or by sending a message with a -subject- (not body) of 'get key' (no quotes) to security-alert@hp.com. _______________________________________________________________________ ========================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). 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://info.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://info.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 CERT is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University. 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