IBM-ERS Security Vulnerability Alert: IBM AIX: Telnet denial of

From: ibm-ersat_private
Date: Wed Feb 11 1998 - 05:29:51 PST

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                               EMERGENCY RESPONSE SERVICE
                              SECURITY VULNERABILITY ALERT
    
    11 February 1998 13:30 GMT                       Number: ERS-SVA-E01-1998:003.1
    ===============================================================================
                                 VULNERABILITY  SUMMARY
    
    VULNERABILITY:  Telnet denial of service attack
    
    PLATFORMS:      IBM AIX(r) 4.1.x, 4.2.x, 4.3
    
    SOLUTION:       Apply the fixes listed below.
    
    THREAT:         Remote users can cause the system to hang.
    
    ===============================================================================
                                  DETAILED INFORMATION
    
    I.  Description
    
    A denial of service attack has been posted to the Bugtraq mailing list
    that causes all tty activity to hang and prevents new telnet sessions
    from being established.
    
    II.  Impact
    
    Remote users can cause the system to run out of message blocks and
    hang.
    
    III.  Solutions
    
      A.  Official fix
    
          At this time, only the AIX 4.1.x APAR is available.  AIX 4.2.x
          and 4.3.0 customers can apply the temporary fix listed below
          until the official APARs are available.  There are no fixes
          planned for AIX 3.2.5 or earlier.  It is recommended that version
          3 customers upgrade to version 4.
    
          AIX 4.1.x:  IX73427   (bos.rte.tty 4.1.5.20)   -- available now
          AIX 4.2.x:  IX73580
          AIX 4.3.0:  IX73214
    
      B.  How to alleviate the problem
    
          A temporary fix is available for AIX 4.2.x and AIX 4.3.0 via
          anonymous ftp from:
    
            ftp://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/security/ldterm_fix.tar.Z
    
          Filename          sum             md5
          ===================================================================
          ldterm.42         52419    77     7ec3ff7eb83ded8f50219a838a0a4c0b
          ldterm.43         37579    77     f066b7d6c3a845c892941a7ab15a6e60
          ldterm_fix.sh     10210     3     e3a8bbecda52ff68391657f008b46262
    
          Use the following steps (as root) to install the temporary fix:
    
          1.  Use the following command to determine the version of the
              bos.rte.tty fileset on your machine.
    
            # lslpp -l bos.rte.tty
    
              If the version is not at the level described below, install
              the requisite APAR for your release.  This will help ensure
              that the efix binary will run properly.
    
              Release       bos.rte.tty version       requisite APAR
              =============================================================
              AIX 4.2.x     less than 4.2.1.9         install IX73755
              AIX 4.3.0     less than 4.3.0.3         install IX73397
    
          2.  Uncompress and extract the fix.
    
            # uncompress < ldterm_fix.tar.Z | tar xf -
            # cd ldterm_fix
    
          3.  Run the ldterm_fix.sh script to install the new tty driver.
    
            # ./ldterm_fix.sh
    
          4.  Reboot.
    
          NOTE: This temporary fix has not been fully regression tested.
    
    IV. Obtaining Fixes
    
    IBM AIX APARs may be ordered using Electronic Fix Distribution (via the
    FixDist program), or from the IBM Support Center.  For more information
    on FixDist, and to obtain fixes via the Internet, please reference
    
            http://service.software.ibm.com/aixsupport/
    
    or send electronic mail to "aixservat_private" with the word
    "FixDist" in the "Subject:" line.
    
    V.  Acknowledgements
    
    Thanks to Kevin Ruderman <rudiat_private> for bringing this problem to our
    attention.
    
    VI.  Contact Information
    
    Comments regarding the content of this announcement can be directed to
    the IBM Support Center or to:
    
       security-alertat_private
    
    To request the PGP public key that can be used to encrypt new AIX
    security vulnerabilities, send email to security-alertat_private
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    IBM and AIX are a registered trademark of International Business
    Machines Corporation.  All other trademarks are property of their
    respective holders.
    
    ===============================================================================
    
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