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This erratum provides updated KDE packages to resolve two security issues.

This erratum provides updated KDE packages to resolve two security issues.

A vulnerability was discovered in versions of kopete, a KDE instant messenger client, prior to 0.6.2. This vulnerabiliy is in the GnuPG plugin that allows for users to send each other GPG-encrypted instant messages. The plugin passes encrypted messages to gpg, but does no checking to sanitize the commandline passed to gpg. This can allow remote users to execute arbitrary code, with the permissions of the user running kopete, on the local system.

Two vulnerabilities were discovered in mgetty versions prior to 1.1.29. An internal buffer could be overflowed if the caller name reported by the modem, via Caller ID information, was too long. As well, the faxspool script that comes with mgetty used a simple permissions scheme to allow or deny fax transmission privileges. Because the spooling directory used for outgoing faxes was world-writeable, this scheme was easily circumvented. Update: The installation of mgetty-sendfax on Mandrake Linux 8.2 relied on macros that are not existant, which would result in fresh installs of mgetty-sendfax being unable to work. Updated packages for 8.2 correct this.

Joey Hess discovered that fuzz, a software stress-testing tool, creates a temporary file without taking appropriate security precautions. This bug could allow an attacker to gain the privileges of the user invoking fuzz, excluding root (fuzz does not allow itself to be invoked as root).

The gtop daemon, used for monitoring remote machines, contains a buffer overflow which could be used by an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the daemon process. If started as root, the daemon process drops root privileges, assuming uid and gid 99 by default.

A difficult to exploit vulnerability was discovered in versions of man prior to 1.5l. A bug exists in man that could cause a program named "unsafe" to be executed due to a malformed man file. In order to exploit this bug, a local attacker would have to be able to get another user to read the malformed man file, and the attacker would also have to create a file called "unsafe" that would be located somewhere in the victim's path.

Two vulnerabilities were discovered in mgetty versions prior to 1.1.29. An internal buffer could be overflowed if the caller name reported by the modem, via Caller ID information, was too long. As well, the faxspool script that comes with mgetty used a simple permissions scheme to allow or deny fax transmission privileges. Because the spooling directory used for outgoing faxes was world-writeable, this scheme was easily circumvented.

Maurice Massar discovered that, due to a packaging error, the program /usr/bin/KATAXWR was inadvertently installed setuid root. This program was not designed to run setuid, and contained multiple vulnerabilities which could be exploited to gain root privileges.

Byrial Jensen discovered a couple of off-by-one buffer overflow in the IMAP code of Mutt, a text-oriented mail reader supporting IMAP, MIME, GPG, PGP and threading. This code is imported in the Balsa package. This problem could potentially allow a remote malicious IMAP server to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a specially crafted mail folder.

Updated mod_auth_any packages are now available for Red Hat Linux.

Updated MySQL server packages fix both a double-free security vulnerability and a root exploit security vulnerability. [Updated 1 May 2003] Added updated packages for Red Hat Linux 9, which is vulnerable to CAN-2003-0150.

Timo Sirainen discovered several problems in EPIC4, a popular client for Internet Relay Chat (IRC). A malicious server could craft special reply strings, triggering the client to write beyond buffer boundaries. This could lead to a denial of service if the client only crashes, but may also lead to executing of arbitrary code under the user id of the chatting user.

Two vulnerabilities have been discoverd in Snort, a popular network intrusion detection system. Snort comes with modules and plugins that perform a variety of functions such as protocol analysis. The following issues have been identified:

Updated man packages fix a minor security vulnerability.

I am awfully and sincerely sorry. Apparently, I wasn't able to assign enough time to this issue and produced insufficiently tested updates. I'll do my best not to repeat this.

The KDE team discoverd a vulnerability in the way KDE uses Ghostscript software for processing of PostScript (PS) and PDF files. An attacker could provide a malicious PostScript or PDF file via mail or websites that could lead to executing arbitrary commands under the privileges of the user viewing the file or when the browser generates a directory listing with thumbnails.

Timo Sirainen discovered a vulnerability in pptpd, a Point to Point Tunneling Server, which implements PPTP-over-IPSEC and is commonly used to create Virtual Private Networks (VPN). By specifying a small packet length an attacker is able to overflow a buffer and execute code under the user id that runs pptpd, probably root. An exploit for this problem is already circulating.

Updated MySQL server packages fix both a double-free security vulnerability and a root exploit security vulnerability.

Updated zlib packages are now available which fix a buffer overflow vulnerability.