This week advisories were released for xpvm, vlc, xine-lib, wzdftpd, drupal, kpdf, libmail-audit-perl, ilohamail, kernel-patch-vserver, unzip, snmptrapfmt, firebird2, sendmail, evolution, kernel, xorg, avahi, beagle, curl, php-pear, xterm, scim-anthy, tzdata, logwatch, shadow-utils, cpio, libsepol, bind, Freeciv, zoo, bypass, rshd, metamail, cube, squirrelmail, flex, gnupg, pngcrush, libcurl, cairo, flash-player, and realplayer. The distributors include Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Mandriva, Red Hat, and SuSE.


EnGarde Secure Linux: Why not give it a try?

EnGarde Secure Linux is a Linux server distribution that is geared toward providing a open source platform that is highly secure by default as well as easy to administer. EnGarde Secure Linux includes a select group of open source packages configured to provide maximum security for tasks such as serving dynamic websites, high availability mail transport, network intrusion detection, and more. The Community edition of EnGarde Secure Linux is completely free and open source, and online security and application updates are also freely available with GDSN registration.

Guardian Digital Makes Email Safe For Business - Microsoft 365, Goo....


Linux Command Reference Manual: Linux File Structure
By: Suhas Desai

In the Linux file structure files are grouped according to purpose. Ex: commands, data files, documentation. Parts of a Unix directory tree are listed below. All directories are grouped under the root entry "/". That part of the directory tree is left out of the below diagram. See the FSSTND standard(Filesystem standard).

root - The home directory for the root user
home - Contains the user's home directories along with directories for services

ftp
HTTP
samba

bin - Commands needed during bootup that might be needed by normal users
sbin - Like bin but commands are not intended for normal users.
proc - This filesystem is not on a disk. It is a virtual filesystem that exists in the kernels imagination, which is memory.
usr - Contains all commands, libraries, man pages, games and static files for normal operation
bin - Almost all user commands. some commands are in /bin or /usr/local/bin.
sbin - System admin commands not needed on the root filesystem. e.g., most server programs.
include - Header files for the C programming language. Should be below /user/lib for consistency.
lib - Unchanging data files for programs and subsystems
local - The place for locally installed software and other files.
man - Manual pages
info - Info documents
doc - Documentation

X11R6 - The X windows system files. There is a directory similar to sr below this directory.
X386 - Like X11R6 but for X11 release 5
boot - Files used by the bootstrap loader, LILO. Kernel images are often kept here.
lib - Shared libraries needed by the programs on the root filesystem
modules - Loadable kernel modules, especially those needed to boot the system after disasters.
dev - Device files
etc - Configuration files specific to the machine.
sysconfig - Files that configure the linux system for devices.
var - Contains files that change for mail, news, printers log files, man pages, temp files
lib - Files that change while the system is running normally
local - Variable data for programs installed in /usr/local.
lock - Lock files. Used by a program to indicate it is using a particular device or file
log - Log files from programs such as login and syslog which logs all logins and logouts.
run - Files that contain information about the system that is valid until the system is next booted.
spool - Directories for mail, printer spools, news and other spooled work.
tmp - Temporary files that are large or need to exist for longer than they should in /tmp.
mnt - Mount points for temporary mounts by the system administrator.
tmp - Temporary files. Programs running after bootup should use /var/tmp.

Read Full Paper
/images/stories/commandref.pdf


LinuxSecurity.com Feature Extras:

EnGarde Secure Community 3.0.4 Released - Guardian Digital is happy to announce the release of EnGarde Secure Community 3.0.4 (Version 3.0, Release 4). This release includes several bug fixes and feature enhancements to the Guardian Digital WebTool and the SELinux policy, and several new packages available for installation.

Linux File & Directory Permissions Mistakes - One common mistake Linux administrators make is having file and directory permissions that are far too liberal and allow access beyond that which is needed for proper system operations. A full explanation of unix file permissions is beyond the scope of this article, so I'll assume you are familiar with the usage of such tools as chmod, chown, and chgrp. If you'd like a refresher, one is available right here on linuxsecurity.com.

Introduction: Buffer Overflow Vulnerabilities - Buffer overflows are a leading type of security vulnerability. This paper explains what a buffer overflow is, how it can be exploited, and what countermeasures can be taken to prevent the use of buffer overflow vulnerabilities.

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 xpvm packages fix insecure temporary file
16th, March, 2006

Eric Romang discoverd that xpvm, a graphical console and monitor for PVM, creates a temporary file that allows local attackers to create or overwrite arbitrary files with the privileges of the user running xpvm.

advisories/debian/debian-new-xpvm-packages-fix-insecure-temporary-file
Debian: New vlc packages fix arbitrary code execution
16th, March, 2006

Simon Kilvington discovered that specially crafted PNG images can trigger a heap overflow in libavcodec, the multimedia library of ffmpeg, which may lead to the execution of arbitrary code. The vlc media player links statically against libavcodec.

advisories/debian/debian-new-vlc-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution-42085
Debian: New xine-lib packages fix arbitrary code execution
16th, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-xine-lib-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution-5517
Debian: New wzdftpd packages fix arbitrary shell command execution
16th, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-wzdftpd-packages-fix-arbitrary-shell-command-execution
Debian: New drupal packages fix several vulnerabilities
17th, March, 2006

The Drupal Security Team discovered several vulnerabilities in Drupal, a fully-featured content management and discussion engine. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project identifies the following problems: CVE-2006-1225,CVE-2006-1226,CVE-2006-1227,CVE-2006-1228

advisories/debian/debian-new-drupal-packages-fix-several-vulnerabilities-8732
Debian: New kpdf packages fix arbitrary code execution
17th, March, 2006

Marcelo Ricardo Leitner noticed that the current patch in DSA 932 (CVE-2005-3627) for kpdf, the PDF viewer for KDE, does not fix all buffer overflows, still allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code.

advisories/debian/debian-new-kpdf-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution-63438
Debian: New libmail-audit-perl packages fix insecure temporary file use
20th, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-libmail-audit-perl-packages-fix-insecure-temporary-file-use-88604
Debian: New crossfire packages fix arbitrary code execution
20th, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-crossfire-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution-36360
Debian: New ilohamail packages fix cross-site scripting vulnerabilities
20th, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-ilohamail-packages-fix-cross-site-scripting-vulnerabilities
Debian: New kernel-patch-vserver packages fix root exploit
21st, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-kernel-patch-vserver-packages-fix-root-exploit
Debian: New unzip packages fix arbitrary code execution
21st, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-unzip-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution
Debian: New snmptrapfmt packages fix insecure temporary file
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-snmptrapfmt-packages-fix-insecure-temporary-file
Debian: New firebird2 packages fix denial of service
23rd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-firebird2-packages-fix-denial-of-service
Debian: New sendmail packages fix arbitrary code execution
23rd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-sendmail-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution
Debian: New evolution packages fix arbitrary code execution
23rd, March, 2006

Ulf H�rnhammar discovered several format string vulnerabilities in Evolution, a free groupware suite, that could lead to crashes of the application or the execution of arbitrary code.

advisories/debian/debian-new-evolution-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution-229
Fedora
Fedora Core 4 Update: GFS-kernel-2.6.11.8-20050601.152643.FC4.25
16th, March, 2006

Rebuilt against the latest kernel (2.6.15-1.1833_FC4).

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-4-update-gfs-kernel-26118-20050601152643fc425-15-17-00-121954
Fedora Core 5 Update: xorg-x11-server-1.0.1-9
20th, March, 2006

Coverity scanned the X.Org source code for problems and reported their findings to the X.Org development team. Upon analysis, Alan Coopersmith, a member of the X.Org development team, noticed a couple of serious security issues in the findings. In particular, the Xorg server can be exploited for root privilege escalation by passing a path to malicious modules using the -modulepath command line argument. Also, the Xorg server can be exploited to overwrite any root writable file on the filesystem with the -logfile command line argument.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-xorg-x11-server-101-9-10-57-00-121985
Fedora Core 5 Update: avahi-0.6.9-8.FC5
20th, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-avahi-069-8fc5-22-39-00-122003
Fedora Core 5 Update: beagle-0.2.3-4
21st, March, 2006

Some of the wrapper scripts (including beagle-status) looked in the current directory for files with a specific name and ran that instead of the binary in the path. All such cases have been fixed in this release.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-beagle-023-4-11-42-00-122022
Fedora Core 5 Update: curl-7.15.1-3
21st, March, 2006

This curl update fixes security vulnerability CVE-2006-1061 - curl can overflow a heap-based memory buffer if very long TFTP URL with valid host name is passed to curl. This update fixes instalation problems on multilib architectures, too.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-curl-7151-3-11-43-00-122023
Fedora Core 5 Update: sendmail-8.13.6-0.FC5.1
22nd, March, 2006

A flaw in the handling of asynchronous signals. A remote attacker may be able to exploit a race condition to execute arbitrary code as root.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-sendmail-8136-0fc51-9292-15-04-00-122233
Fedora Core 4 Update: sendmail-8.13.6-0.FC4.1
22nd, March, 2006

A flaw in the handling of asynchronous signals. A remote attacker may be able to exploit a race condition to execute arbitrary code as root.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-4-update-sendmail-8136-0fc41-44909-15-04-00-122232
Fedora Core 5 Update: php-pear-1.4.6-2.1
22nd, March, 2006

This update includes the latest upstream version of the PEAR XML_RPC package (version 1.4.5), which fixes operation of the XML_RPC server component with PHP 5.1.2.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-php-pear-146-21-19-24-00-122045
Fedora Core 4 Update: xterm-208-4.FC4
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-4-update-xterm-208-4fc4-19-34-00-122046
Fedora Core 5 Update: scim-anthy-0.9.0-3.fc5
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-scim-anthy-090-3fc5-19-44-00-122047
Fedora Core 4 Update: tzdata-2006b-2.fc4
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-4-update-tzdata-2006b-2fc4-19-52-00-122050
Fedora Core 4 Update: logwatch-7.2.1-1.fc4
22nd, March, 2006

This new version of logwatch package fixes problems with --splithosts option and contains a lot of services updates.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-4-update-logwatch-721-1fc4-20-00-00-122051
Fedora Core 5 Update: anthy-7500-1.fc5
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-anthy-7500-1fc5-20-09-00-122052
Fedora Core 5 Update: shadow-utils-4.0.14-5.FC5
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-shadow-utils-4014-5fc5-20-17-00-122053
Fedora Core 5 Update: cpio-2.6-14.FC5
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-cpio-26-14fc5-20-39-00-122054
Fedora Core 5 Update: libsepol-1.12.1-1.fc5
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-libsepol-1121-1fc5-21-12-00-122055
Fedora Core 5 Update: bind-9.3.2-12.FC5
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/fedora/fedora-core-5-update-bind-932-12fc5-21-43-00-122056
Gentoo
Gentoo: Freeciv Denial of Service
16th, March, 2006

A memory allocation bug in Freeciv allows a remote attacker to perform a Denial of Service attack.

Gentoo: zoo Buffer overflow
16th, March, 2006

A buffer overflow in zoo may be exploited to execute arbitrary when creating archives of specially crafted directories and files.

Gentoo: PEAR-Auth Potential authentication bypass
17th, March, 2006

PEAR-Auth did not correctly verify data passed to the DB and LDAP containers, thus allowing to inject false credentials to bypass the authentication.

Gentoo: Heimdal rshd privilege escalation
17th, March, 2006

An error in the rshd daemon of Heimdal could allow authenticated users to elevate privileges.

Gentoo: Crypt:CBC: Insecure initialization vector
17th, March, 2006

Crypt::CBC uses an insecure initialization vector, potentially resulting in a weaker encryption.

Gentoo: Metamail Buffer overflow
17th, March, 2006

A buffer overflow in Metamail could possibly be exploited to execute arbitrary code.

Gentoo: Cube Multiple vulnerabilities
21st, March, 2006

Cube is vulnerable to a buffer overflow, invalid memory access and remote client crashes, possibly leading to a Denial of Service or remote code execution.

Gentoo: SquirrelMail Cross-site scripting and IMAP command injection
21st, March, 2006

SquirrelMail is vulnerable to several cross-site scripting vulnerabilities and IMAP command injection.

Gentoo: GNU tar Buffer overflow
21st, March, 2006

A malicious tar archive could trigger a Buffer overflow in GNU tar, potentially resulting in the execution of arbitrary code.

Gentoo: flex Potential insecure code generation
21st, March, 2006

flex might generate code with a buffer overflow, making applications using such scanners vulnerable to the execution of arbitrary code.

Gentoo: GnuPG Incorrect signature verification
21st, March, 2006

GnuPG may erroneously report a modified or unsigned message has a valid digital signature.

Gentoo: PeerCast Buffer overflow
21st, March, 2006

PeerCast is vulnerable to a buffer overflow that may lead to the execution of arbitrary code.

Gentoo: Pngcrush Buffer overflow
21st, March, 2006

Pngcrush is vulnerable to a buffer overflow which could potentially lead to the execution of arbitrary code.

Gentoo: cURL/libcurl Buffer overflow in the handling
21st, March, 2006

libcurl is affected by a buffer overflow in the handling of URLs for the TFTP protocol, which could be exploited to compromise a user's system.

Gentoo: Macromedia Flash Player Arbitrary code execution
21st, March, 2006

Multiple vulnerabilities have been identified that allows arbitrary code execution on a user's system via the handling of malicious SWF files.

Gentoo: Sendmail Race condition in the handling of asynchronous signals
22nd, March, 2006

Sendmail is vulnerable to a race condition which could lead to the execution of arbitrary code with sendmail privileges.

Gentoo: PHP Format string and XSS vulnerabilities
22nd, March, 2006

Multiple vulnerabilities in PHP allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTTP headers, perform cross site scripting or in some cases execute arbitrary code.

Mandriva
Mandriva: Updated xorg-x11 packages to address local root vuln
20th, March, 2006

Versions of Xorg 6.9.0 and greater have a bug in xf86Init.c, which allows non-root users to use the -modulepath, -logfile and -configure options. This allows loading of arbitrary modules which will execute as the root user, as well as a local DoS by overwriting system files. Updated packages have been patched to correct these issues.

Mandriva: Updated cairo packages to address Evolution DoS vulnerability
20th, March, 2006

GNOME Evolution allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (persistent client crash) via an attached text file that contains "Content-Disposition: inline" in the header, and a very long line in the body, which causes the client to repeatedly crash until the e-mail message is manually removed, possibly due to a buffer overflow, as demonstrated using an XML attachment.

Mandriva: Updated sendmail packages fix remote vulnerability
22nd, March, 2006

A race condition was reported in sendmail in how it handles asynchronous signals. This could allow a remote attacker to be able to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running sendmail.

Mandriva: Updated kernel packages fix multiple vulnerabilities
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

Red Hat
RedHat: Critical: sendmail security update
22nd, March, 2006

Updated sendmail packages to fix a security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and 4. This update has been rated as having critical security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

advisories/red-hat/redhat-critical-sendmail-security-update-3177
RedHat: Critical: sendmail security update
22nd, March, 2006

Updated sendmail packages to fix a security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1. This update has been rated as having critical security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

advisories/red-hat/redhat-critical-sendmail-security-update-3177
RedHat: Critical: RealPlayer security update
23rd, March, 2006

An updated RealPlayer package that fixes a buffer overflow bug is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extras 3 and 4. This update has been rated as having critical security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

advisories/red-hat/redhat-critical-realplayer-security-update-56018
SuSE
SuSE: flash-player buffer overflow
21st, March, 2006

Updated package.

SuSE: xorg-x11-server local privilege
21st, March, 2006

Updated package.

SuSE: sendmail remote code execution
22nd, March, 2006

Updated package.

SuSE: RealPlayer security problems
23rd, March, 2006

This update fixes the following security problems in Realplayer: CVE-2006-0323, CVE-2005-2922.