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______________________________________________________________________________
Silicon Graphics Inc. Security Advisory
Title: IRIX 6.4 ioconfig(1M) and disk_bandwidth(1M) Vulnerability
Number: 19980701-01-P
Date: July 20, 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.
______________________________________________________________________________
- ------------------------
- ---- Issue Specifics ---
- ------------------------
The IRIX ioconfig(1M) program assigns logical controller numbers to all I/O
devices on a Silicon Graphics Origin or Onyx2 system.
The IRIX disk_bandwidth(1M) program is used to determine the number of I/O
operations that can be performed on a given disk device on an Origin or Onyx2
system.
Both programs are normally only used by IRIX System administrators.
Unfortunately, a vulnerability has been discovered in both ioconfig(1M) and
disk_bandwidth(1M) programs that can lead to a root compromise of the system.
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. This
issue will be corrected in future releases of IRIX.
- ---------------
- ---- Impact ---
- ---------------
The ioconfig(1M)/disk_bandwidth(1M) programs are installed by default on all
IRIX 6.4 S2MP Origin and Onyx2 systems.
A local user account on the vulnerable system is required in order to
exploit the ioconfig(1M)/disk_bandwidth(1M) vulnerability locally and remotely.
This vulnerability has been publically discussed in Usenet newsgroups
and mailing lists.
- -----------------
- ---- Solution ---
- -----------------
The steps below can be used to remove the vulnerability by restricting
permissions of the ioconfig(1M)/disk_bandwidth(1M) programs to the root user.
1) Become the root user on the system.
% /bin/su -
Password:
#
2) Verify the vulnerable ioconfig(1M)/disk_bandwidth(1M) programs
are installed. Only IRIX 6.4 S2MP for Origin/Onyx2 is vulnerable.
# uname -R
6.4 S2MP+OCTANE
3) Remove permissions on the vulnerable ioconfig(1M) and
disk_bandwidth(1M) programs.
# /bin/chmod 500 /sbin/ioconfig
# /bin/chmod 500 /sbin/disk_bandwidth
************
*** NOTE ***
************
Removing permissions from the vulnerable programs will
prevent non-root users from accessing ioconfig(1M) and
disk_bandwidth(1M).
4) Verify the new permissions on the program.
Note that the program size may be different depending on release.
# ls -al /sbin/ioconfig /usr/sbin/disk_bandwidth
-r-x------ 1 root sys 34024 Feb 20 16:53 ioconfig
-r-x------ 1 root sys 17604 Dec 18 1997 disk_bandwidth
5) Return to previous user level.
# exit
%
- -------------------------
- ---- Acknowledgments ---
- -------------------------
Silicon Graphics wishes to thank the Internet community at large 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-alertat_private
------oOo------
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------oOo------
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------oOo------
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------oOo------
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______________________________________________________________________________
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.
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