<<< Date Index >>>     <<< Thread Index >>>

[ GLSA 200406-14 ] aspell: Buffer overflow in word-list-compress



-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Gentoo Linux Security Advisory                           GLSA 200406-14
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
                                            http://security.gentoo.org/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

  Severity: Normal
     Title: aspell: Buffer overflow in word-list-compress
      Date: June 17, 2004
      Bugs: #53389
        ID: 200406-14

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

Synopsis
========

A bug in the aspell utility word-list-compress can allow an attacker to
execute arbitrary code.

Background
==========

aspell is a popular spell-checker. Dictionaries are available for many
languages.

Affected packages
=================

    -------------------------------------------------------------------
     Package          /    Vulnerable    /                  Unaffected
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
  1  app-text/aspell      <= 0.50.5-r1                    >= 0.50.5-r2

Description
===========

aspell includes a utility for handling wordlists called
word-list-compress. This utility fails to do proper bounds checking
when processing words longer than 256 bytes.

Impact
======

If an attacker could entice a user to handle a wordlist containing very
long word lengths it could result in the execution of arbitrary code
with the permissions of the user running the program.

Workaround
==========

There is no known workaround at this time. All users are encouraged to
upgrade to the latest available version.

Resolution
==========

All users should upgrade to the latest available version of aspell.

    # emerge sync

    # emerge -pv ">=app-text/aspell-0.50.5-r2"
    # emerge ">=app-text/aspell-0.50.5-r2"

References
==========

  [ 1 ] Nettwerked Advisory
        http://nettwerked.mg2.org/advisories/wlc

Availability
============

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at
the Gentoo Security Website:

     http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200406-14.xml

Concerns?
=========

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the
confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost
importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to
security@xxxxxxxxxx or alternatively, you may file a bug at
http://bugs.gentoo.org.

License
=======

Copyright 2004 Gentoo Technologies, Inc; referenced text
belongs to its owner(s).

The contents of this document are licensed under the
Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike license.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFA0fOMvcL1obalX08RApMUAKCuhtr4BQ1VO9AjTGjycUWahlt8HwCggGdu
3ydNetVN8OMdPSP7E86Ny3s=
=9wWO
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----