-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ============================================================================== Security Advisory CERT-NL ============================================================================== Author/Source : Egon Verharen Index : S-98-48 Distribution : World Page : 1 Classification: External Version: 1 Subject : IRIX ioconfig & disk_bandwidth vulnerability Date : 25-Jul-97 ============================================================================== By courtesy of Silicon Graphics Inc. we received information on a vulnerability in IRIX 6.4 ioconfig(1M) and disk_bandwidth(1M) CERT-NL recommends to take the appropriate measures as outlined by the advisory. ============================================================================= 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-alert@sgi.com. ------oOo------ Silicon Graphics provides security information and patches for use by the entire SGI community. This information is freely available to any person needing the information and is available via anonymous FTP and the Web. The primary SGI anonymous FTP site for security information and patches is sgigate.sgi.com (204.94.209.1). Security information and patches are located under the directories ~ftp/security and ~ftp/patches, respectively. The Silicon Graphics Security Headquarters Web page is accessible at the URL http://www.sgi.com/Support/security/security.html. For issues with the patches on the FTP sites, email can be sent to cse-security-alert@sgi.com. For assistance obtaining or working with security patches, please contact your SGI support provider. ------oOo------ Silicon Graphics provides a free security mailing list service called wiretap and encourages interested parties to self-subscribe to receive (via email) all SGI Security Advisories when they are released. Subscribing to the mailing list can be done via the Web (http://www.sgi.com/Support/security/wiretap.html) or by sending email to SGI as outlined below. % mail wiretap-request@sgi.com subscribe wiretap end ^d In the example above, is the email address that you wish the mailing list information sent to. The word end must be on a separate line to indicate the end of the body of the message. The control-d (^d) is used to indicate to the mail program that you are finished composing the mail message. ------oOo------ Silicon Graphics provides a comprehensive customer World Wide Web site. This site is located at http://www.sgi.com/Support/security/security.html. ============================================================================= CERT-NL is the Computer Emergency Response Team for SURFnet customers. SURFnet is the Dutch network for educational, research and related institutes. CERT-NL is a member of the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST). 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