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______________________________________________________________________________
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-alertat_private
------oOo------
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use by the entire SGI community. This information is freely
available to any person needing the information and is available
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The primary SGI anonymous FTP site for security information and patches
is sgigate.sgi.com (204.94.209.1). Security information and patches
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For issues with the patches on the FTP sites, email can be sent to
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For assistance obtaining or working with security patches, please
contact your SGI support provider.
------oOo------
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subscribe wiretap <YourEmailAddress>
end
^d
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------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-alertat_private 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.
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