This week, advisories were released for python, squid, php, emacs, postgres, evolution, mailman, hztty, hwbrowser, cups, hotplug, xpdf, kdegraphics, gallery, perl, and squirrelmail. The distributors include Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Mandrake, Red Hat, and SuSE.

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Are Your Servers Secure?
By Blessen Cherian

In a word, No. No machine connected to the internet is 100% secure. This doesn't mean that you are helpless. You can take measures to avoid hacks, but you cannot avoid them completely. This is like a house — when the windows and doors are open then the probability of a thief coming in is high, but if the doors and windows are closed and locked the probability of being robbed is less, but still not nil.

What is Information Security?

For our purposes, Information Security means the methods we use to protect sensitive data from unauthorized users.

Why do we need Information Security?

The entire world is rapidly becoming IT enabled. Wherever you look, computer technology has revolutionized the way things operate. Some examples are airports, seaports, telecommunication industries, and TV broadcasting, all of which are thriving as a result of the use of IT. "IT is everywhere."

A lot of sensitive information passes through the Internet, such as credit card data, mission critical server passwords, and important files. There is always a chance of some one viewing and/or modifying the data while it is in transmission. There are countless horror stories of what happens when an outsider gets someone's credit card or financial information. He or she can use it in any way they like and could even destroy you and your business by taking or destroying all your assets. As we all know "An ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure," so to avoid such critical situations, it is advisable to have a good security policy and security implementation.

Read complete feature story:
features/features/are-your-servers-secure

LinuxSecurity.com Feature Extras:

Getting to Know Linux Security: File Permissions - Welcome to the first tutorial in the 'Getting to Know Linux Security' series. The topic explored is Linux file permissions. It offers an easy to follow explanation of how to read permissions, and how to set them using chmod. This guide is intended for users new to Linux security, therefore very simple. If the feedback is good, I'll consider creating more complex guides for advanced users. Please let us know what you think and how these can be improved.

The Tao of Network Security Monitoring: Beyond Intrusion Detection - To be honest, this was one of the best books that I've read on network security. Others books often dive so deeply into technical discussions, they fail to provide any relevance to network engineers/administrators working in a corporate environment. Budgets, deadlines, and flexibility are issues that we must all address. The Tao of Network Security Monitoring is presented in such a way that all of these are still relevant.

Encrypting Shell Scripts - Do you have scripts that contain sensitive information like passwords and you pretty much depend on file permissions to keep it secure? If so, then that type of security is good provided you keep your system secure and some user doesn't have a "ps -ef" loop running in an attempt to capture that sensitive info (though some applications mask passwords in "ps" output).

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Take advantage of our Linux Security discussion list! This mailing list is for general security-related questions and comments. To subscribe send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with "subscribe" as the subject.

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: New Python2.2 packages fix unauthorised XML-RPC internals access
4th, February, 2005

For the stable distribution (woody) this problem has been fixed in version 2.2.1-4.7. No other version of Python in woody is affected. advisories/debian/debian-new-python22-packages-fix-unauthorised-xml-rpc-internals-access
Debian: New squid packages fix several vulnerabilities
4th, February, 2005

LDAP is very forgiving about spaces in search filters and this could be abused to log in using several variants of the login name, possibly bypassing explicit access controls or confusing accounting. advisories/debian/debian-new-squid-packages-fix-several-vulnerabilities-15114
Debian: New php3 packages fix several vulnerabilities
7th, February, 2005

Updated packages. advisories/debian/debian-new-php3-packages-fix-several-vulnerabilities
Debian: New emacs20 packages fix arbitrary code execution
8th, February, 2005

Updated package. advisories/debian/debian-new-emacs20-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution
Debian: New PostgreSQL packages fix arbitrary library loading
4th, February, 2005

Upgrade advisories/debian/debian-new-postgresql-packages-fix-arbitrary-library-loading
Debian: New xemacs21 packages fix arbitrary code execution
8th, February, 2005

Updated xemacs package. advisories/debian/debian-new-xemacs21-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution
Debian: New xview packages fix potential arbitrary code execution
9th, February, 2005

Updated Package advisories/debian/debian-new-xview-packages-fix-potential-arbitrary-code-execution
Debian: New evolution packages fix arbitrary code execution as root
10th, February, 2005

Max Vozeler discovered an integer overflow in a helper application inside of Evolution, a free grouware suite. A local attacker could cause the setuid root helper to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. advisories/debian/debian-new-evolution-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution-as-root
Debian: New mailman packages fix several vulnerabilities
10th, February, 2005

Updated advisories/debian/debian-new-mailman-packages-fix-several-vulnerabilities
Debian: New hztty packages fix local utmp exploit
10th, February, 2005

Updated package advisories/debian/debian-new-hztty-packages-fix-local-utmp-exploit
Fedora
Fedora Core 3 Update: system-config-printer-0.6.116.1.1-1
4th, February, 2005

Bug-fix update. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-system-config-printer-0611611-1-14-36-00-118187
Fedora Core 3 Update: hwbrowser-0.19-0.fc3.2
4th, February, 2005

Upgrade advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-hwbrowser-019-0fc32-14-36-00-118188
Fedora Core 3 Update: python-2.3.4-13.1
4th, February, 2005

n object traversal bug was found in the Python SimpleXMLRPCServer. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-python-234-131-17-58-00-118190
Fedora Core 3 Update: postgresql-7.4.7-1.FC3.2
7th, February, 2005

Updated package. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-postgresql-747-1fc32-16-35-00-118202
Fedora Core 2 Update: postgresql-7.4.7-1.FC2.2
7th, February, 2005

Updated package. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-2-update-postgresql-747-1fc22-16-36-00-118203
Fedora Core 2 Update: cups-1.1.20-11.11
8th, February, 2005

A problem with PDF handling was discovered by Chris Evans, and has been fixed. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (https://www.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2004-0888 to this issue. FEDORA-2004-337 attempted to correct this but the patch was incomplete. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-2-update-cups-1120-1111-12-50-00-118212
Fedora Core 3 Update: cups-1.1.22-0.rc1.8.5
8th, February, 2005

A problem with PDF handling was discovered by Chris Evans, and has been fixed. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (https://www.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2004-0888 to this issue. FEDORA-2004-337 attempted to correct this but the patch was incomplete. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-cups-1122-0rc185-12-51-00-118213
Fedora Core 2 Update: hotplug-2004_04_01-1.1
8th, February, 2005

This update fixes updfstab in the presence of multiple USB plug/unplug events. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-2-update-hotplug-20040401-11-12-51-00-118214
Fedora Core 3 Update: emacs-21.3-21.FC3
8th, February, 2005

This update fixes the CAN-2005-0100 movemail vulnerability and backports the latest bug fixes. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-emacs-213-21fc3-20-38-00-118219
Fedora Core 2 Update: xpdf-3.00-3.8
9th, February, 2005

Updated XPDF advisories/fedora/fedora-core-2-update-xpdf-300-38-12-03-00-118223
Fedora Core 3 Update: xpdf-3.00-10.4
9th, February, 2005

Updated XPDF advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-xpdf-300-104-12-04-00-118224
Fedora Core 3 Update: kdegraphics-3.3.1-2.4
9th, February, 2005

Updated KDEGraphics advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-kdegraphics-331-24-12-04-00-118225
Fedora Core 2 Update: kdegraphics-3.2.2-1.4
9th, February, 2005

Updated kdegraphics advisories/fedora/fedora-core-2-update-kdegraphics-322-14-12-05-00-118226
Fedora Core 2 Update: gpdf-2.8.2-4.1
9th, February, 2005

Updated advisories/fedora/fedora-core-2-update-gpdf-282-41-17-07-00-118230
Fedora Core 3 Update: gpdf-2.8.2-4.2
9th, February, 2005

Updated advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-gpdf-282-42-17-08-00-118231
Fedora Core 3 Update: mailman-2.1.5-30.fc3
10th, February, 2005

There is a critical security flaw in Mailman 2.1.5 which will allow attackers to read arbitrary files. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-mailman-215-30fc3-12-05-00-118243
Fedora Core 2 Update: mailman-2.1.5-8.fc2
10th, February, 2005

There is a critical security flaw in Mailman 2.1.5 which will allow attackers to read arbitrary files. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-2-update-mailman-215-8fc2-12-06-00-118244
Fedora Core 2 Update: mod_python-3.1.3-1.fc2.2
10th, February, 2005

Graham Dumpleton discovered a flaw affecting the publisher handler of mod_python, used to make objects inside modules callable via URL. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-2-update-modpython-313-1fc22-14-09-00-118252
Fedora Core 3 Update: mod_python-3.1.3-5.2
10th, February, 2005

Graham Dumpleton discovered a flaw affecting the publisher handler of mod_python, used to make objects inside modules callable via URL. advisories/fedora/fedora-core-3-update-modpython-313-52-14-09-00-118253
Gentoo
Gentoo: pdftohtml Vulnerabilities in included Xpdf
9th, February, 2005

pdftohtml includes vulnerable Xpdf code to handle PDF files, making it vulnerable to execution of arbitrary code upon converting a malicious PDF file.
Gentoo: LessTif Multiple vulnerabilities in libXpm
6th, February, 2005

Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in libXpm, which is included in LessTif, that can potentially lead to remote code execution.
Gentoo: PostgreSQL Local privilege escalation
7th, February, 2005

The PostgreSQL server can be tricked by a local attacker to execute arbitrary code.
Gentoo: OpenMotif Multiple vulnerabilities in libXpm
7th, February, 2005

Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in libXpm, which is included in OpenMotif, that can potentially lead to remote code execution.
Gentoo: Python Arbitrary code execution through SimpleXMLRPCServer
8th, February, 2005

Python-based XML-RPC servers may be vulnerable to remote execution of arbitrary code.
Gentoo: Python Arbitrary code execution through SimpleXMLRPCServer
10th, February, 2005

Python-based XML-RPC servers may be vulnerable to remote execution of arbitrary code.
Gentoo: Mailman Directory traversal vulnerability
10th, February, 2005

Mailman fails to properly sanitize input, leading to information disclosure.
Gentoo: Gallery Cross-site scripting vulnerability
10th, February, 2005

The cross-site scripting vulnerability that Gallery 1.4.4-pl5 was intended to fix, did not actually resolve the issue. The Gallery Development Team have released version 1.4.4-pl6 to properly solve this problem.
Mandrake: Updated perl-DBI packages
8th, February, 2005

Javier Fernandez-Sanguino Pena disovered the perl5 DBI library created a temporary PID file in an insecure manner, which could be exploited by a malicious user to overwrite arbitrary files owned by the user executing the parts of the library. The updated packages have been patched to prevent these problems.
Mandrake
Mandrake: Updated perl packages fix
8th, February, 2005

Updated perl package.
Red Hat
RedHat: Updated Perl packages fix security issues
7th, February, 2005

Updated Perl packages that fix several security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. advisories/red-hat/redhat-updated-perl-packages-fix-security-issues-RHSA-2005-105-01
RedHat: Updated mailman packages fix security
10th, February, 2005

Updated mailman packages that correct a mailman security issue are now available. advisories/red-hat/redhat-updated-mailman-packages-fix-security-RHSA-2005-136-01
RedHat: Updated kdelibs and kdebase packages correct
10th, February, 2005

Updated kdelib and kdebase packages that resolve several security issues are now available. advisories/red-hat/redhat-updated-kdelibs-and-kdebase-packages-correct-RHSA-2005-009-01
RedHat: Updated mod_python package fixes security issue
10th, February, 2005

An Updated mod_python package that fixes a security issue in the publisher handler is now available. advisories/red-hat/redhat-updated-modpython-package-fixes-security-issue-RHSA-2005-104-01
RedHat: Updated emacs packages fix security issue
10th, February, 2005

Updated Emacs packages that fix a string format issue are now available. advisories/red-hat/redhat-updated-emacs-packages-fix-security-issue-RHSA-2005-112-01
RedHat: Updated xemacs packages fix security issue
10th, February, 2005

Updated XEmacs packages that fix a string format issue are now available. advisories/red-hat/redhat-updated-xemacs-packages-fix-security-issue-RHSA-2005-134-01
RedHat: Updated Squirrelmail package fixes security
10th, February, 2005

An updated Squirrelmail package that fixes several security issues is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. advisories/red-hat/redhat-updated-squirrelmail-package-fixes-security-RHSA-2005-135-01
SuSE
SuSE: kernel bugfixes and SP1 merge
4th, February, 2005

Two weeks ago we released the Service Pack 1 for our SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 product. Due to the strict code freeze we were not able to merge all the security fixes from the last kernel update on Jan23rd (SUSE-SA:2005:003) into this kernel.
SuSE: squid (SUSE-SA:2005:006)
10th, February, 2005

The last two squid updates from February the 1st and 10th fix several vulnerabilities. The impact of them range from remote denial-of-service over cache poisoning to possible remote command execution.