From security-advisories@freebsd.org Mon Oct 30 23:29:34 2000 From: FreeBSD Security Advisories To: BUGTRAQ@SECURITYFOCUS.COM Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 15:12:19 -0800 Subject: [BUGTRAQ] FreeBSD Ports Security Advisory: FreeBSD-SA-00:59.pine -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ============================================================================= FreeBSD-SA-00:59 Security Advisory FreeBSD, Inc. Topic: pine4 port contains remote vulnerability Category: ports Module: pine4/pine4-ssl/zh-pine4/iw-pine4 Announced: 2000-10-30 Affects: Ports collection. Corrected: 2000-10-29 Credits: arkane@SPEAKEASY.ORG Vendor status: Contacted FreeBSD only: NO I. Background Pine is a popular mail user agent. II. Problem Description The pine4 port, versions 4.21 and before, contains a buffer overflow vulnerability which allows a remote user to execute arbitrary code on the local client by the sending of a special-crafted email message. The overflow occurs during the periodic "new mail" checking of an open folder. The pine4 port is not installed by default, nor is it "part of FreeBSD" as such: it is part of the FreeBSD ports collection, which contains over 4000 third-party applications in a ready-to-install format. The ports collections shipped with FreeBSD 4.1.1 and 3.5.1 contain this problem since it was discovered after the releases. FreeBSD makes no claim about the security of these third-party applications, although an effort is underway to provide a security audit of the most security-critical ports. Administrators should note that the Pine software has been a frequent source of past security holes, and makes extensive use of string routines commonly associated with security vulnerabilities. The FreeBSD Security Officer believes it is likely that further vulnerabilities exit in this software, and recommends the use of alternative mail software in environments where electronic mail may be received from untrusted sources. III. Impact Remote users can cause pine4 to crash when closing a mail folder by sending a malformed email. If you have not chosen to install the pine4 port/package, then your system is not vulnerable to this problem. IV. Workaround Deinstall the pine4 port/package, if you have installed it. The risk can be decreased by not leaving pine sitting idle with an open folder, but it cannot be completely eliminated without patching and recompiling the software. V. Solution One of the following: 1) Upgrade your entire ports collection and rebuild the pine4 port. 2) Deinstall the old package and install a new package dated after the correction date, obtained from: ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-3-stable/mail/pine-4.21_1.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-4-stable/mail/pine-4.21_1.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-4-stable/mail/pine-4.21_1.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-5-current/mail/pine-4.21_1.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-5-current/mail/pine-4.21_1.tgz NOTE: It may be several days before updated packages are available. 3) download a new port skeleton for the listmanager port from: http://www.freebsd.org/ports/ and use it to rebuild the port. 4) Use the portcheckout utility to automate option (3) above. The portcheckout port is available in /usr/ports/devel/portcheckout or the package can be obtained from: ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-3-stable/devel/portcheckout-2.0.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-4-stable/devel/portcheckout-2.0.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-4-stable/devel/portcheckout-2.0.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-5-current/devel/portcheckout-2.0.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-5-current/devel/portcheckout-2.0.tgz -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (FreeBSD) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iQCVAwUBOf3+NVUuHi5z0oilAQHjFQQAmVrnuMQbQwPKf8LVdsNFgc6470e8Lz07 +8OTApKVTzX1WVbBNQUTJ8tC0TSiZt/BTOq41EVHc+yP6W8gJWPWmGJHMH2vtd2q /5X1o+Q17IP2doXuDBT2MUJH7simUJBPbZ9Fi+AuI+lecCx80Q9W9qndEypdwpwZ j01EAufwmMk= =nefD -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----