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NSFOCUS SA2003-07: HP-UX Software Distributor Buffer Overflow Vulnerability



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NSFOCUS Security Advisory(SA2003-07)

Topic: HP-UX Software Distributor Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

Release Date: 2003-11-13

CVE CAN ID: CAN-2003-0089

http://www.nsfocus.com/english/homepage/research/0307.htm

Affected system:
===================

- - HP-UX B.11.00
- - HP-UX B.11.11

Summary:
=========

NSFOCUS Security Team has found a buffer overflow in Software Distributor
utilities for HP-UX. By exploiting the vulnerability local attackers could
gain root privilege.

Description:
============

The Software Distributor(SD) utilities for HP-UX contain a number of programs
such as swinstall. These programs are used to create, install, distribute
and manage software products. A buffer overflow exists in the programs with
suid root bit (such as swinstalll/swmodify etc) and allows local attackers
to run arbitrary code with root privilege.

If the environment variable LANG is set as a over large string, programs such
as swinstall will copy it into a fixed-size buffer without any bound check,
which causes a stack overflow. By overwriting the returned address and other
data in the stack, local attackers could gain root privilege.

Workaround:
=============

NSFOCUS suggests to temporarily remove the suid root bit for all the
programs in SD utilities. 

# chmod a-s /usr/sbin/sw*

Vendor Status:
==============

2002.11.19 Informed the vendor
2002.12.05 Vendor confirmed the vulnerability
2003.11.05 Vendor released a security bulletin (HPSBUX0311-293) and relative
           patches for the vulnerability.

Detailed information for the HP security bulletin is available at:
http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/cki/docDisplay.do?docId=HPSBUX0311-293

Note: Valid ITRC account is required for the link above.

Patch ID:

HP-UX B.11.00  PHCO_28847
HP-UX B.11.11  PHCO_28848

Additional Information:
========================

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the 
name CAN-2003-0089 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in the
CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security 
problems. Candidates may change significantly before they become official
CVE entries.

Acknowledgment
===============

Yang Jilong of NSFOCUS Security Team found the vulnerability. 

DISCLAIMS:
==========
THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IS RELEASED BY NSFOCUS "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY
OF ANY KIND. NSFOCUS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
EXCEPT FOR THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY. IN NO EVENT SHALL NSFOCUS
BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL,CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES,
EVEN IF NSFOCUS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
DISTRIBUTION OR REPRODUCTION OF THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED THAT THE
ADVISORY IS NOT MODIFIED IN ANY WAY.

Copyright 1999-2003 NSFOCUS. All Rights Reserved. Terms of use.


NSFOCUS Security Team <security@xxxxxxxxxxx>
NSFOCUS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD
(http://www.nsfocus.com)

PGP Key: http://www.nsfocus.com/homepage/research/pgpkey.asc
Key fingerprint = F8F2 F5D1 EF74 E08C 02FE 1B90 D7BF 7877 C6A6 F6DA
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