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| LinuxSecurity.com Weekly Newsletter |
| June 17th, 2005 Volume 6, Number 24a |
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Editors: Dave Wreski Benjamin D. Thomas
dave@private ben@private
Linux Advisory Watch is a comprehensive newsletter that outlines the
security vulnerabilities that have been announced throughout the
week. It includes pointers to updated packages and descriptions of
each vulnerability.
This week, advisories were released for mikmod, tcpdump, yum, elinks,
parted, system-config-securitylevel, checkpolicy, spamassassin, gaim,
libextractor, Ettercap, shtool, gedit, MediaWiki, gzip, gftp, squid,
rsh, sysreport, telnet, bz, and mc. The distributors include Fedora,
Gentoo, and Red Hat.
---
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---
SPF: Ready for Prime Time?
by Pete O'Hara
Introduction
As of the time of this writing in the fight against SPAM a policy has
been drafted to target sender address forging called SPF (Sender Policy
Framework). The basic premise is to verify that the sender of an email
is in fact who they by claim to be. If they are not then mail can be
rejected. This could potentially eliminate a big percentage of SPAM and
who wouldn't want that.. But there have been problems with SPF and it
isn't the big solution that everyone had imagined when it first hit
the scene. There are a couple of plaguing issues that keep it from
becoming a mature solution with a standard.
What is SPF?
The first version of SPF (also know as "Classic" SPF) was a creation
of Meng Wong, founder of Pobox.com. In short the scheme is based on
domains publishing what servers are allowed to send mail for
themselves using DNS TXT records. A receiving MTA can then look at
the domain the sender is claiming to be from and the IP address of
the connecting client and check the SPF (DNS TXT) record for that
domain and verify if the client is allowed to send mail for the said
domain. From the results the receiving MTA can take appropriate actions.
The goal is to prevent sender forgery, one of the most common
characteristics of spam. SPF was a proposal considered by IETF's
MARID group.
Summary
I, as everyone else, would love to be able to block all SPAM and I
certainly applaud all of the efforts that have been and are still
being made. But it seems obvious that SPF alone isn't going to be
the answer. It doesn't handle the forwarding issue and SRS isn't
ready as a solution. One could argue that SPF can at least be used
not to reject mail but to whitelist mail from senders that pass SPF
checks. In view of spammers deploying SPF themselves this would
actually be counter productive as it gives them a form of credibility.
Based on the material presented here there are options other than
standalone SPF that on the surface seem to provide a better solution
but the cost is that they are more complex in that they require
reputation/accreditation services. But does the lack of agreement
on the simpler SPF (which turned out to be not so simple once the
forwarding issues surfaced) foreshadow the difficulties in
standardizing more elaborate proposals? If the trend towards
reputation/accreditation gains momentum, which by the way would
still require some form of sender validation to be established (you
can't build a dependable reputation of a sender when it can't be
verified), harmony on the architecture of such services seems a very
long way off. Sender verification is a problem that certainly needs
to be addressed but SMTP wasn't originally designed with this
functionality in mind. Therefore a viable solution is not going to
be as simple as publishing DNS records of authorized mail servers.
SPF on it's own isn't the answer.
Read Entire Article:
http://infocenter.guardiandigital.com/documentation/spf.html
----------------------
Measuring Security IT Success
In a time where budgets are constrained and Internet threats are
on the rise, it is important for organizations to invest in network
security applications that will not only provide them with powerful
functionality but also a rapid return on investment.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/118817/49/
---
Getting to Know Linux Security: File Permissions
Welcome to the first tutorial in the 'Getting to Know Linux Security'
series. The topic explored is Linux file permissions. It offers an
easy to follow explanation of how to read permissions, and how to set
them using chmod. This guide is intended for users new to Linux
security, therefore very simple. If the feedback is good, I'll
consider creating more complex guides for advanced users. Please
let us know what you think and how these can be improved.
Click to view video demo:
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/118181/49/
---
The Tao of Network Security Monitoring: Beyond Intrusion Detection
To be honest, this was one of the best books that I've read on network
security. Others books often dive so deeply into technical discussions,
they fail to provide any relevance to network engineers/administrators
working in a corporate environment. Budgets, deadlines, and flexibility
are issues that we must all address. The Tao of Network Security
Monitoring is presented in such a way that all of these are still
relevant. One of the greatest virtues of this book is that is offers
real-life technical examples, while backing them up with relevant case
studies.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/118106/49/
--------
--> Take advantage of the LinuxSecurity.com Quick Reference Card!
--> http://www.linuxsecurity.com/docs/QuickRefCard.pdf
+---------------------------------+
| Distribution: Fedora | ----------------------------//
+---------------------------------+
* Fedora Core 3 Update: mikmod-3.1.6-31.FC3
9th, June, 2005
Updated package.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119277
* Fedora Core 3 Update: tcpdump-3.8.2-9.FC3
9th, June, 2005
Updated package.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119278
* Fedora Core 3 Update: yum-2.2.1-0.fc3
13th, June, 2005
Updated package.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119303
* Fedora Core 4 Update: elinks-0.10.3-3.1
16th, June, 2005
Updated package.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119321
* Fedora Core 4 Update: mikmod-3.1.6-35.FC4
16th, June, 2005
Updated package.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119322
* Fedora Core 4 Update: tcpdump-3.8.2-13.FC4
16th, June, 2005
Updated package.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119323
* Fedora Core 4 Update: parted-1.6.22-3.FC4
16th, June, 2005
Updated package.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119324
* Fedora Core 4 Update: system-config-securitylevel-1.5.8.1-1
16th, June, 2005
Updated package.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119325
* Fedora Core 3 Update: checkpolicy-1.17.5-1.2
16th, June, 2005
Updated package.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119327
* Fedora Core 3 Update: selinux-policy-targeted-1.17.30-3.9
16th, June, 2005
Updated package.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119328
* Fedora Core 3 Update: spamassassin-3.0.4-1.fc3
16th, June, 2005
Important update for a Denial of Service vulnerability, plus more
bug fixes from upstream. More details available at:
http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/NextRelease
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119332
* Fedora Core 4 Update: spamassassin-3.0.4-1.fc4
16th, June, 2005
Important update for a Denial of Service vulnerability, plus more
bug fixes from upstream. More details available at:
http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/NextRelease
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119333
* Fedora Core 3 Update: gaim-1.3.1-0.fc3
16th, June, 2005
More bug and denial of service fixes.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119334
* Fedora Core 4 Update: gaim-1.3.1-0.fc4
16th, June, 2005
More bug and denial of service fixes.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119335
+---------------------------------+
| Distribution: Gentoo | ----------------------------//
+---------------------------------+
* Gentoo: libextractor Multiple overflow vulnerabilities
9th, June, 2005
libextractor is affected by several overflow vulnerabilities in the
PDF, Real and PNG extractors, making it vulnerable to execution of
arbitrary code.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119279
* Gentoo: Ettercap Format string vulnerability
11th, June, 2005
A format string vulnerability in Ettercap could allow a remote
attacker to execute arbitrary code.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119283
* Gentoo: GNU shtool, ocaml-mysql Insecure temporary file
11th, June, 2005
GNU shtool and ocaml-mysql are vulnerable to symlink attacks,
potentially allowing a local user to overwrite arbitrary files.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119284
* Gentoo: gedit Format string vulnerability
11th, June, 2005
gedit suffers from a format string vulnerability that could allow
arbitrary code execution.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119285
* Gentoo: GNU shtool, ocaml-mysql Insecure temporary file
11th, June, 2005
GNU shtool and ocaml-mysql are vulnerable to symlink attacks,
potentially allowing a local user to overwrite arbitrary files.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119286
* Gentoo: LutelWall Insecure temporary file creation
11th, June, 2005
LutelWall is vulnerable to symlink attacks, potentially allowing a
local user to overwrite arbitrary files.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119287
* Gentoo: Ettercap Format string vulnerability
11th, June, 2005
A format string vulnerability in Ettercap could allow a remote
attacker to execute arbitrary code.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119288
* Gentoo: Gaim Denial of Service vulnerabilities
12th, June, 2005
Gaim contains two remote Denial of Service vulnerabilities.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119290
* Gentoo: TCPDump Decoding routines Denial of Service
13th, June, 2005
While working on the tcpdump issues solved in the original version of
this GLSA, Simon L. Nielsen from FreeBSD Security Team discovered a
similar infinite loop DoS vulnerability in the BGP handling code
(CAN-2005-1267).
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119305
* Gentoo: MediaWiki Cross-site scripting vulnerability
13th, June, 2005
MediaWiki is vulnerable to a cross-site scripting attack that could
allow arbitrary scripting code execution.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119306
+---------------------------------+
| Distribution: Red Hat | ----------------------------//
+---------------------------------+
* RedHat: Low: gzip security update
13th, June, 2005
An updated gzip package is now available.
This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red
Hat Security Response Team.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119295
* RedHat: Moderate: gftp security update
13th, June, 2005
An updated gFTP package that fixes a directory traversal issue is now
available. This update has been rated as having moderate security impact
by the Red Hat Security Response Team.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119296
* RedHat: Low: squid security update
13th, June, 2005
An updated squid package that fixes several security issues is now
available. This update has been rated as having low security impact by
the Red Hat Security Response Team.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119297
* RedHat: Low: rsh security update
13th, June, 2005
Updated rsh packages that fix a theoretical security issue are now
available. This update has been rated as having low security impact
by the Red Hat Security Response Team
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119298
* RedHat: Moderate: gedit security update
13th, June, 2005
An updated gedit package that fixes a file name format string
vulnerability is now available. This update has been rated as having
moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119299
* RedHat: Moderate: sysreport security update
13th, June, 2005
An updated sysreport package that fixes an information disclosure
flaw is now available. This update has been rated as having moderate
security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119300
* RedHat: Low: tcpdump security update
13th, June, 2005
Updated tcpdump packages that fix a security issue are now available.
This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red
Hat Security Response Team.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119301
* RedHat: Low: mikmod security update
13th, June, 2005
Updated mikmod packages that fix a security issue are now available.
This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red
Hat Security Response Team.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119302
* RedHat: Low: squid security update
14th, June, 2005
An updated squid package that fixes several security issues is now
available. This update has been rated as having low security impact
by the Red Hat Security Response Team.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119312
* RedHat: Moderate: telnet security update
14th, June, 2005
Updated telnet packages that fix an information disclosure issue are
now available. This update has been rated as having moderate security
impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119313
* RedHat: Low: bzip2 security update
16th, June, 2005
Updated bzip2 packages that fix multiple issues are now available.
This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red
Hat Security Response Team.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119329
* RedHat: Moderate: mc security update
16th, June, 2005
Updated mc packages that fix several security issues are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1. This update has been
rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security
Response Team.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119330
* RedHat: Moderate: gaim security update
16th, June, 2005
An updated gaim package that fixes two denial of service issues is
now available. This update has been rated as having moderate security
impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119331
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