From agent99@boytoy.csd.sgi.com Thu Aug 6 17:19:28 1998 From: SGI Security Coordinator To: agent99@sgi.com Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 15:17:54 -0700 (PDT) Subject: BSD/Qualcomm qpopper Vulnerability -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ______________________________________________________________________________ Silicon Graphics Inc. Security Advisory Title: BSD/Qualcomm qpopper Vulnerability Title: CERT CA-98.08 Number: 19980801-01-I Date: August 6, 1998 ______________________________________________________________________________ Silicon Graphics provides this information freely to the SGI user community for its consideration, interpretation, implementation and use. Silicon Graphics recommends that this information be acted upon as soon as possible. Silicon Graphics provides the information in this Security Advisory on an "AS-IS" basis only, and disclaims all warranties with respect thereto, express, implied or otherwise, including, without limitation, any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Silicon Graphics be liable for any loss of profits, loss of business, loss of data or for any indirect, special, exemplary, incidental or consequential damages of any kind arising from your use of, failure to use or improper use of any of the instructions or information in this Security Advisory. ______________________________________________________________________________ As a followup to the CERT(sm) Advisory CA-98.08 "Vulnerability POP", Silicon Graphics has investigated and provides the following information. - ----------------------- - --- Issue Specifics --- - ----------------------- The Post Office Protocol (POP) provides users with an alternative means to process and retrieve their email. CERT has reported that a buffer overflow vulnerability has been discovered in certain versions of POP servers based on BSD/Qualcomm's qpopper which can allow remote users to obtain root access. Silicon Graphics Inc. 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. - -------------- - --- Impact --- - -------------- Silicon Graphics distributes a freeware BSD/Qualcomm POP server called fw_BSDqpopper which is on the Freeware 1.0/2.0 CD and also on the WebFORCE CDs. fw_BSDqpopper is also available from the web via http://toolbox.sgi.com/TasteOfDT/public/ BSD/Qualcomm's qpopper v2.41 and prior versions are vulnerable to the buffer overflow vulnerability. This vulnerability was reported by CERT(sm) in Advisory CA-98.08. This vulnerability has been publically discussed in Usenet newsgroups and mailing lists. - -------------------------- - --- Temporary Solution --- - -------------------------- Although new releases of BSD/Qualcomm qpopper may be available to fix this issue, it is realized that there may be situations where installing the new release immediately may not be possible. To determine if a system is vulnerable to this problem and to remove the programs that are believed to be vulnerable, use the following steps. 1) Check to see if the vulnerable subsystem is installed. Versions 2.41 and prior of fw_BSDqpopper are vulnerable. % versions -b fw_BSDqpopper Name Date Description I fw_BSDqpopper 07/01/97 BSD/Qualcomm POP (Post Office Protocol) Server version 2.1.4 2) Become the root user on the system. % /bin/su - Password: # 3) Remove the vulnerable subsystem. # versions remove fw_BSDqpopper 4) Return to previous level. # exit % When possible, install an updated version of BSD/Qualcomm qpopper. - ---------------- - --- Solution --- - ---------------- No Silicon Graphics patches are available for freeware software. As freeware software, all reasonable efforts will be made to address the issue in future releases of the Silicon Graphics Freeware distribution. Updates to IRIX freeware software will be hosted at http://freeware.sgi.com/ An update to qpopper can be found at Qualcomm's web site: http://eudora.qualcomm.com/free/servers.html - ------------------------ - --- Acknowledgments --- - ------------------------ Silicon Graphics wishes to thank the CERT Coordination Center for their assistance in this matter. - ----------------------------------------------------------- - --- Silicon Graphics Inc. Security Information/Contacts --- - ----------------------------------------------------------- If there are questions about this document, email can be sent to cse-security-alert@sgi.com. ------oOo------ Silicon Graphics 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 information and patches is sgigate.sgi.com (204.94.209.1). Security information and patches are located under the directories ~ftp/security and ~ftp/patches, respectively. The Silicon Graphics Security Headquarters Web page is accessible at the URL http://www.sgi.com/Support/security/security.html. For issues with the patches on the FTP sites, email can be sent to cse-security-alert@sgi.com. For assistance obtaining or working with security patches, please contact your SGI support provider. ------oOo------ Silicon Graphics 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 wiretap-request@sgi.com subscribe wiretap end ^d In the example above, 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------ Silicon Graphics provides a comprehensive customer World Wide Web site. This site is located at http://www.sgi.com/Support/security/security.html. ------oOo------ For reporting *NEW* SGI security issues, email can be sent to security-alert@sgi.com 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, Silicon Graphics is appropriately credited and the document retains and includes its valid PGP signature. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBNcojPbQ4cFApAP75AQEkGAQAilRrtQlqZjDRQArXJAkk3haMh1cANxfH oTbam50ArrB4yaRRgKlrIc/aNGrZ+dFbuKDiHMYAcdAIL+B06U6El2/qr0NIdCgH xxGLyu8ubmDVtamzEongUZihafxTLwL3UFJMRc30j8Y+Lybm+ebgIu3bcFHqUIux ofqtHVoYvDQ= =MJtX -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----