This week, advisories were released for zgv, atari800, MyODBC, mikmod, gstreamer, grep, flim, kdelibs, kdebase, selinux-policy-targeted, xcdroast, udev, PHProjekt, nfs-utils, ncpfs, vim, evolution, mkdonline, iproute, libpng, postgresql, IPSec, imlib, ruby, ncompress, and mod_ssl. The distributors include Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Mandrake, OpenBSD, Red Hat, and TurboLinux.

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Detecting Physical Security Compromises

The first thing to always note is when your machine was rebooted. Since Linux is a robust and stable OS, the only times your machine should reboot is when you take it down for OS upgrades, hardware swapping, or the like. If your machine has rebooted without you doing it, that may be a sign that an intruder has compromised it. Many of the ways that your machine can be compromised require the intruder to reboot or power off your machine.

Check for signs of tampering on the case and computer area. Although many intruders clean traces of their presence out of logs, it's a good idea to check through them all and note any discrepancy.

It is also a good idea to store log data at a secure location, such as a dedicated log server within your well-protected network. Once a machine has been compromised, log data becomes of little use as it most likely has also been modified by the intruder.

The syslog daemon can be configured to automatically send log data to a central syslog server, but this is typically sent unencrypted, allowing an intruder to view data as it is being transferred. This may reveal information about your network that is not intended to be public. There are syslog daemons available that encrypt the data as it is being sent.

Also be aware that faking syslog messages is easy -- with an exploit program having been published. Syslog even accepts net log entries claiming to come from the local host without indicating their true origin.

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Thank you for reading the LinuxSecurity.com weekly security newsletter. The purpose of this document is to provide our readers with a quick summary of each week's most relevant Linux security headline.

Debian
Debian: zgv arbitrary code execution fix
14th, December, 2004

Several vulnerabilities have been discovered in zgv, an SVGAlib graphics viewer for the i386 architecture. advisories/debian/debian-zgv-arbitrary-code-execution-fix
Debian: atari800 local root exploit fix
14th, December, 2004

Adam Zabrocki discovered multiple buffer overflows in atari800, an Atari emulator. In order to directly access graphics hardware, one of the affected programs is installed setuid root. A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability to gain root privileges. advisories/debian/debian-atari800-local-root-exploit-fix
Fedora
Fedora: MyODBC-2.50.39-18.2 update
10th, December, 2004

This update fixes a problem that occurs when the user's locale setting selects a decimal point other than ".". advisories/fedora/fedora-myodbc-25039-182-update-00-00-00-117469
Fedora: MyODBC-2.50.39-19.1 update
10th, December, 2004

This update fixes a problem that occurs when the user's locale setting selects a decimal point other than ".". advisories/fedora/fedora-myodbc-25039-191-update-00-00-00-117470
Fedora: mikmod-3.1.6-30.2 update
13th, December, 2004

This moves 'mikmod' back to the main package. It was incorrectly in the mikmod-devel package. advisories/fedora/fedora-mikmod-316-302-update-00-00-00-117476
Fedora: gstreamer-0.8.7-4.FC3.0 update
14th, December, 2004

This update adds multilib support to GStreamer; this fixes several issues people had on multilib architectures such as x86_64. It's been fairly well tested but please do not hesitate to report any issues. advisories/fedora/fedora-gstreamer-087-4fc30-update-12-17-22-117494
Fedora: grep-2.5.1-31.2 update
14th, December, 2004

This update improves performance when processing UTF-8 input. advisories/fedora/fedora-grep-251-312-update-12-18-26-117495
Fedora: flim-1.14.7-0.FC2 update
15th, December, 2004

Update to 1.14.7 release, which also fixes CAN-2004-0422. advisories/fedora/fedora-flim-1147-0fc2-update-17-43-41-117518
Fedora: kdelibs-3.2.2-10.FC2 update
15th, December, 2004

apply the patch to fix Konqueror Window Injection Vulnerability #142510 CAN-2004-1158, Thanks to KDE security team advisories/fedora/fedora-kdelibs-322-10fc2-update-17-44-39-117519
Fedora: kdebase-3.2.2-8.FC2 update
15th, December, 2004

apply the patch to fix Konqueror Window Injection Vulnerability #142510 CAN-2004-1158, Thanks to KDE security team advisories/fedora/fedora-kdebase-322-8fc2-update-17-45-32-117520
Fedora: kdelibs-3.3.1-2.4.FC3 update
15th, December, 2004

apply the patch to fix Konqueror Window Injection Vulnerability #142510 CAN-2004-1158, Thanks to KDE security team advisories/fedora/fedora-kdelibs-331-24fc3-update-17-47-10-117521
Fedora: kdebase-3.3.1-4.3.FC3 update
15th, December, 2004

apply the patch to fix Konqueror Window Injection Vulnerability #142510 CAN-2004-1158, Thanks to KDE security team advisories/fedora/fedora-kdebase-331-43fc3-update-17-48-53-117522
Fedora: selinux-policy-targeted-1.17.30-2.51 update
16th, December, 2004

Fix problems with winbind, nscd, apache and others. advisories/fedora/fedora-selinux-policy-targeted-11730-251-update-09-27-25-117525
Fedora: xcdroast-0.98a15-8 update
16th, December, 2004

fixed frozen progress bars with patch from Didier Heyden (bug #134334) advisories/fedora/fedora-xcdroast-098a15-8-update-11-03-00-117529
Fedora: udev-039-10.FC3.6 update
16th, December, 2004

fixed a case where reading /proc/ide/hd?/media returns EIO (bug rh#142713) and added simple dvb rules advisories/fedora/fedora-udev-039-10fc36-update-11-04-25-117530
Gentoo
Gentoo: PHProjekt setup.php vulnerability
10th, December, 2004

PHProjekt contains a vulnerability in the setup procedure allowing remote users without admin rights to change the configuration.
Gentoo: nfs-utils Multiple remote vulnerabilities
13th, December, 2004

Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in nfs-utils that could lead to a Denial of Service, or the execution of arbitrary code.
Gentoo
Gentoo: ncpfs Buffer overflow in ncplogin and ncpmap
15th, December, 2004

ncpfs is vulnerable to a buffer overflow that could lead to local execution of arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
Gentoo: vim, gVim Vulnerable options in modelines
15th, December, 2004

Several vulnerabilities related to the use of options in modelines have been found and fixed in Vim. They could potentially result in a local user escalating privileges.
Mandrake
Mandrake: evolution various bugs fix
14th, December, 2004

This update provides Evolution 2.0.3 which fixes a number of bugs found in the previous version of Evolution, including the possibility to lose mail when Evolution sends an email message, that fails to send, but Evolution doesn't realize it has failed.
Mandrake: mdkonline provide new features
14th, December, 2004

This is a major update of mandrakeonline which fixes several issues and adds more features such as a text wizard for servers without Xwindow capabilities, support for server products, corporate and MNF for instance, errors displaying and md5sum file checks.
Mandrake: iproute2 temporary file vulnerability
14th, December, 2004

Herbert Xu discovered that iproute can accept spoofed messages sent via the kernel netlink interface by other users on the local machine. This could lead to a local Denial of Service attack.
Mandrake: evolution various bugs fix
14th, December, 2004

This update provides Evolution 2.0.3 which fixes a number of bugs found in the previous version of Evolution, including the possibility to lose mail when Evolution sends an email message, that fails to send, but Evolution doesn't realize it has failed.
Mandrake: libpng invalid zlib header problem fix
14th, December, 2004

A problem in version 1.2.6 of the libpng library would cause libpng to write an invalid zlib header within the PNG datastream. This can cause some applications to display the images incorrectly.
Mandrake: postgresql temporary file vulnerability fix
14th, December, 2004

The Trustix development team found insecure temporary file creation problems in a script included in the postgresql package. This could allow an attacker to trick a user into overwriting arbitrary files he has access to.
Mandrake: kde various bug fixes
15th, December, 2004

A number of KDE-related packages are being released to address a number of bugs in these packages. Updated packages include kdenetwork (which fixes problems in kget, kopete, and krfb), kdepim (which fixes problems in kmail, knode, knotes, and kontact), kwallet (which fixes problems in kwalleditor and kcmlirc), and kdesdk (which fixes a problem in cervisia).
Mandrake: kdelibs & kdebase vulnerability fix
15th, December, 2004

Daniel Fabian discovered a potential privacy issue in KDE. When creating a link to a remote file from various applications, including Konqueror, the resulting URL may contain the authentication credentials used to access that remote resource. This includes, but is not limited to, browsing SMB (Samba) shares. Upon further investigation, it was found that the SMB protocol handler also unnecessarily exposed authentication credentials (CAN-2004-1171).
OpenBSD: kernel heap overflow in IPsec
14th, December, 2004

On systems running isakmpd(8) it is possible for a local user to cause kernel memory corruption and system panic by setting ipsec(4) credentials on a socket. Stopping isakmpd(8) does not prevent the memory corruption.
Red Hat: imlib security vulnerabilities fix
10th, December, 2004

Updated imlib packages that fix several integer and buffer overflows are now available. advisories/red-hat/red-hat-imlib-security-vulnerabilities-fix-RHSA-2004-651-01
Red Hat: ruby denial of service issue fix
13th, December, 2004

An updated ruby package that fixes a denial of service issue for the CGI instance is now available. advisories/red-hat/red-hat-ruby-denial-of-service-issue-fix-RHSA-2004-635-01
Red Hat
Red Hat: ncompress security issue and bug fix
13th, December, 2004

An updated ncompress package that fixes a buffer overflow and problem in the handling of files larger than 2 GB is now available. advisories/red-hat/red-hat-ncompress-security-issue-and-bug-fix-RHSA-2004-536-01
Red Hat: apache and mod_ssl security vulnerabilities fix
13th, December, 2004

Updated apache and mod_ssl packages that fix various minor security issues and bugs in the Apache Web server are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1. advisories/red-hat/red-hat-apache-and-modssl-security-vulnerabilities-fix-RHSA-2004-600-01
Red Hat: kernel security vulnerability fix
13th, December, 2004

Updated kernel packages are now available as part of ongoing support and maintenance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 2.1. This is the sixth regular update. advisories/red-hat/red-hat-kernel-security-vulnerability-fix-RHSA-2004-505-01
Red Hat: Itanium security issues fix
13th, December, 2004

Updated Itanium kernel packages are now available as part of ongoing support and maintenance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 2.1. This is the sixth regular update. advisories/red-hat/red-hat-itanium-security-issues-fix-RHSA-2004-504-01
TurboLinux
TurboLinux: Security & Bugfix
13th, December, 2004

Numerous issues in the Linux ELF binary loader. Issues relating to IDE DMA transfers which prevent installation on machines with SiS chipsets using the SiS 962/963 IDE controller. Null pointer dereferencing in the SG driver.