[ISN] Linux Advisory Watch - May 13th 2005

Sat May 14 04:06:42 EDT 2005

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|  LinuxSecurity.com                             Weekly Newsletter    |
|  May 13th, 2005                             Volume 6, Number 19a    |
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  Editors:      Dave Wreski                     Benjamin D. Thomas
                dave at linuxsecurity.com          ben at linuxsecurity.com

Linux Advisory Watch is a comprehensive newsletter that outlines the
security vulnerabilities that have been announced throughout the
week.  It includes pointers to updated packages and descriptions of
each vulnerability.

This week, advisories were released for squid, smail, XFree86, lapack,
system-config-bind, gnutls, util-linux, libexif, ethereal, postgresql,
gaim, pygtk, GnuTLS, gzip, TCPDump, libTIFF, HT, and openmotif.  The
distributors include Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, and Red Hat.

---

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---

Sarbanes Oxley - Section 404
By: Erica R. Thomas

The section titled 404 corresponds to the requirements for effective
internal controls by corporations falling under the jurisdiction of
The Act. According to the Guardian Digital SOX Whitepaper, "Under
Section 404 management must institute a comprehensive internal control
structure which includes appropriated procedures to ensure accurate and
complete financial reporting." Management must conduct an annual
assessment regarding the effectiveness of this structure and it must be
supportedby documented evidence and validation of management.s assessment
by a registered public accounting firm. According to Robert Moeller in his
book, "Sarbanes-Oxley and the New Internal Auditing Rules", a system
or process has good internal controls if it accomplishes its stated
mission, produces accurate and reliable data, complies with applicable
laws and organization policies, provides for economical and efficient
uses of resources, and provides for appropriate safeguarding of assets.
The annual internal controls reports must state the responsibility of
management for establishing and maintaining an adequate internal
control structure and procedures for financial report and must
contain an assessment of the effectiveness of the internal control
structure for procedures of the company for financial reporting.

The Act affects every level of an organization, however much of the
compliance issues will be dealt by the upper-level executives as
well as finance and IT departments. Overall, The Act.s main concern
is the security and integrity of financial information. As stated by
Guardian Digital, "Given that almost all business information today
is created, stored, and shared electronically, information technology,
with special regard to information security, is a significant
component of the effective internal controls mandated by SOX."

Any aspect of information technology controls which directly affects
the processes or procedures involved in creating and preparing
corporate data, including all hardware, software, and IT policies
relevant to the preparation and retention of information would then
be subject to compliance to the act.

According to SOX, all corporations must pass a set of rules for
every division within a company that may be involved in the generation,
manipulation, and reporting of corporate information. With regard to
IT departments, however, these policies will be created to drive
security and ensure the integrity of all information contained on
the network. Documented policies and procedures set acceptable rules
for employees and executives conduct alike and furthermore, provide
blueprints on how certain situations should most effectively be handled
eliminating guesswork and inadvertent transgressions. Setting
information security policies, properly enforcing them and proactively
evolving existing policies to adjust to corporate growth is the
backbone for SOX compliance and is essential to achieve optimum
performance and security on the system.

Although properly executed acceptable use policies are a good
defense against many of the internal threats facing corporate
infrastructure, they cannot protect the integrity of corporate data
alone. A solid infrastructure incorporates numerous technologies
including those that will protect corporate confidentiality, the
continuity of secure network operations, and further assist in
enforcing corporate network and Internet policies. These solutions
should include firewalls for traffic monitoring, comprehensive
auditing features to reveal user and system activity, strong
encryption mechanisms to ensure data integrity when transferring
pertinent information, user authentication mechanisms such as
passwords and digital certification, and a system back-up module to
provide critical recovery services. A cohesive collection of all these
applications is a step in the right direction for SOX compliance as
well as a chance for organizations to empower their IT infrastructure
through technologically advanced applications. Such improvements not
only provide governmental compliance and greater network protection
but can also result in a dramatic performance increase.

----------------------

Measuring Security IT Success

In a time where budgets are constrained and Internet threats are
on the rise, it is important for organizations to invest in network
security applications that will not only provide them with powerful
functionality but also a rapid return on investment.

In most organizations IT success is generally calculated through
effectiveness, resource usage and, most importantly, how quickly the
investment can be returned. To correctly quantify the ROI of
information technology, organizations usually measure cost savings
and increased profits since the initial implementation. Additionally,
ROI can also be affected based on the overall impact the investment
has on employee productivity and overall work environment of the company.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/118817/49/

---

Getting to Know Linux Security: File Permissions

Welcome to the first tutorial in the 'Getting to Know Linux Security'
series.  The topic explored is Linux file permissions.  It offers an
easy to follow explanation of how to read permissions, and how to set
them using chmod.  This guide is intended for users new to Linux
security, therefore very simple.  If the feedback is good, I'll
consider creating more complex guides for advanced users.  Please
let us know what you think and how these can be improved.

Click to view video demo:
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/118181/49/

---

The Tao of Network Security Monitoring: Beyond Intrusion Detection

To be honest, this was one of the best books that I've read on network
security. Others books often dive so deeply into technical discussions,
they fail to provide any relevance to network engineers/administrators
working in a corporate environment. Budgets, deadlines, and flexibility
are issues that we must all address. The Tao of Network Security
Monitoring is presented in such a way that all of these are still
relevant. One of the greatest virtues of this book is that is offers
real-life technical examples, while backing them up with relevant case
studies.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/118106/49/

--------

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+---------------------------------+
|  Distribution: Debian           | ----------------------------//
+---------------------------------+

* Debian: New squid packages fix ACL bypass
  6th, May, 2005

Updated package.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119067

* Debian: New smail packages fix arbitrary code execution
  9th, May, 2005

Updated package.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119079

* Debian: New XFree86 packages fix arbitrary code execution
  9th, May, 2005

Updated Package.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119081

+---------------------------------+
|  Distribution: Fedora           | ----------------------------//
+---------------------------------+

* Fedora Core 3 Update: lapack-3.0-26.fc3
  5th, May, 2005

This update fixes problems in some lapack libraries (problems with
compiler optimalization). This version contains all patches present
in fc4 lapack version.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119060

* Fedora Core 3 Update: system-config-bind-4.0.0-12
  5th, May, 2005

Updated package.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119061

* Fedora Core 3 Update: gnutls-1.0.20-3.1.1
  5th, May, 2005

New gnutls version fixes CAN-2005-1431 problem (possible DOS attack)

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119062

* Fedora Core 3 Update: util-linux-2.12a-24.2
  6th, May, 2005

Updated package.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119069

* Fedora Core 3 Update: libexif-0.5.12-6.fc3
  6th, May, 2005

Updated package.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119073

* Fedora Core 3 Update: ethereal-0.10.11-1.FC3.1
  9th, May, 2005

Updated package.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119080

* Fedora Core 3 Update: postgresql-7.4.8-1.FC3.1
  10th, May, 2005

This update includes several upstream security fixes and other
bug fixes.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119093

* Fedora Core 3 Update: gaim-1.3.0-1.fc3
  11th, May, 2005

Many bug fixes and two important security fixes.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119101

* Fedora Core 3 Update: pygtk2-2.4.1-fc3.1
  11th, May, 2005

Updated package.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119106

+---------------------------------+
|  Distribution: Gentoo           | ----------------------------//
+---------------------------------+

* Gentoo: Oops! Remote code execution
  5th, May, 2005

The Oops! proxy server contains a remotely exploitable format string
vulnerability, which could potentially lead to the execution of
arbitrary code.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119063

* Gentoo: Ethereal Numerous vulnerabilities
  6th, May, 2005

Ethereal is vulnerable to numerous vulnerabilities potentially
resulting in the execution of arbitrary code or abnormal termination.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119070

* Gentoo: GnuTLS Denial of Service vulnerability
  9th, May, 2005

The GnuTLS library is vulnerable to Denial of Service attacks.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119077

* Gentoo: gzip Multiple vulnerabilities
  9th, May, 2005

gzip contains multiple vulnerabilities potentially allowing an
attacker to execute arbitrary commands.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119084

* Gentoo: TCPDump Decoding routines Denial of Service vulnerability
  9th, May, 2005

A flaw in the decoding of network packets renders TCPDump vulnerable
to a remote Denial of Service attack.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119085

* Gentoo: libTIFF Buffer overflow
  10th, May, 2005

The libTIFF library is vulnerable to a buffer overflow, potentially
resulting in the execution of arbitrary code.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119091

* Gentoo: HT Editor Multiple buffer overflows
  10th, May, 2005

Two vulnerabilities have been discovered in HT Editor, potentially
leading to the execution of arbitrary code.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119092

* Gentoo: Gaim Denial of Service and buffer overflow vulnerabilties
  12th, May, 2005

Gaim contains two vulnerabilities, potentially resulting in the
execution of arbitrary code or Denial of Service.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119107

+---------------------------------+
|  Distribution: Red Hat          | ----------------------------//
+---------------------------------+

* RedHat: Moderate: tcpdump security update
  11th, May, 2005

Updated tcpdump packages that fix several security issues are
now available.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119096

* RedHat: Moderate: tcpdump security update
  11th, May, 2005

Updated tcpdump packages that fix several security issues are
now available.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119097

* RedHat: Critical: gaim security update
  11th, May, 2005

An updated gaim package that fixes two security issues is now
available.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119098

* RedHat: Critical: gaim security update
  11th, May, 2005

An updated gaim package that fixes security issues is now available
for Red Hat.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119099

* RedHat: Moderate: openmotif security update
  11th, May, 2005

Updated openmotif packages that fix a flaw in the Xpm image library
are now available.

http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119102

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