* SITIC Vulnerability Advisory * Advisory Name: Evolution multiple remote format string bugs Advisory Reference: SA05-001 Date of initial release: 2005-08-10 Product: Evolution 1.5, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 Platform: Linux, BSD systems, Unix Effect: Remote code execution Vulnerability Identifier: Not assigned Overview: Evolution suffers from several format string bugs when handling data from remote sources. These bugs lead to crashes or the execution of arbitrary assembly language code. Details: 1) The first format string bug occurs when viewing the full vCard data attached to an e-mail message. When opening an e-mail message, only a compact view of some of the fields from the vCard is displayed, and this does not trigger the vulnerability. To be affected, the user must click on Show Full vCard or perform similar actions such as clicking on Save in Addressbook and then viewing the saved data under the Contacts tab. Why is this important? An attacker might notice that an organisation uses Evolution, for instance after seeing the "X-Mailer: Evolution x.y.z" e-mail header in their e-mails. He or she could then send out e-mail messages with malicious vCards to many e-mail accounts at the organisation, in the hope that some of the recipients will view the full vCard data sooner or later, thus exposing the organisation to this format string bug. 2) The second format string bug occurs when displaying contact data from remote LDAP servers. 3) The third format string bug occurs when displaying task list data from remote servers. 4) The fourth, and least serious, format string bug occurs when the user goes to the Calendars tab to save task list data that is vulnerable to problem 3 above. Other calendar entries that do not come from task lists are also affected. Mitigating factors: Users that never use any of the vulnerable features in Evolution are not affected. Affected versions: o Evolution 1.5 to Evolution 2.3.6.1 Recommendations: We recommend that users either upgrade to Evolution 2.3.7 (unstable) or apply our unofficial patch to their Evolution installation. Patch information: Evolution 2.3.7 is available from the following source: o http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/sources/evolution/ Our unofficial patch is available from our home page: o http://www.sitic.se Acknowledgments: These vulnerabilities were discovered by Ulf Harnhammar for SITIC, Swedish IT Incident Centre. Contact information: Swedish IT Incident Centre, SITIC P O Box 5398, SE-102 49 Stockholm, Sweden Telephone: +46-8-678 5799 Email: sitic at pts dot se http://www.sitic.se Revision history: First published 2005-08-10 About SITIC: The Swedish IT Incident Centre within the National Post and Telecom Agency has the task to support society in working with protection against IT incidents. SITIC facilitates exchange of information regarding IT incidents between organisations in society, and disseminates information about new problems which potentially may impede the functionality of IT systems. In addition, SITIC provides information and advice regarding proactive measures and compiles and publishes statistics. Disclaimer: The decision to follow or act on information or advice contained in this Vulnerability Advisory is the responsibility of each user or organisation. SITIC accepts no responsibility for any errors or omissions contained within this Vulnerability Advisory, nor for any consequences which may arise from following or acting on information or advice contained herein.
Attachment:
evolution.formatstring.patch
Description: evolution.formatstring.patch