This week, advisories were released for pstotext, texinfo, libsgf, proftpd, fvwm, ImageMagick, Kile, Ingo, Mono, LHa, OpenLDAP, apach- mode_auth_kerb, dbus, audacity, tar, rpmdrake, drakxtools, jbossas, phpMyAdmin, Dovecot, KOffice, GnuPG. The distributors include Debian, Gentoo, Mandriva, SuSE, and Ubuntu.


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LinuxSecurity.com Feature Extras:

    RFID with Bio-Smart Card in Linux - In this paper, we describe the integration of fingerprint template and RF smart card for clustered network, which is designed on Linux platform and Open source technology to obtain biometrics security. Combination of smart card and biometrics has achieved in two step authentication where smart card authentication is based on a Personal Identification Number (PIN) and the card holder is authenticated using the biometrics template stored in the smart card that is based on the fingerprint verification. The fingerprint verification has to be executed on central host server for security purposes. Protocol designed allows controlling entire parameters of smart security controller like PIN options, Reader delay, real-time clock, alarm option and cardholder access conditions.

    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.

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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: New pstotext packages fix arbitrary shell command execution
26th, November, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-pstotext-packages-fix-arbitrary-shell-command-execution
Debian: New texinfo packages fix multiple vulnerabilities
27th, November, 2006

Multiple vulnerabilities have been found in the GNU texinfo package, a documentation system for on-line information and printed output. CVE-2005-3011: Handling of temporary files is performed in an insecure manner, allowing an attacker to overwrite any file writable by the victim. CVE-2006-4810: A buffer overflow in util/texindex.c could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the victim's access rights by inducing the victim to run texindex or tex2dvi on a specially crafted texinfo file.

advisories/debian/debian-new-texinfo-packages-fix-multiple-vulnerabilities
Debian: New libgsf packages fix arbitrary code execution
30th, November, 2006

Updated package.

advisories/debian/debian-new-libgsf-packages-fix-arbitrary-code-execution
Debian: New proftpd packages fix several vulnerabilities
30th, November, 2006

Several remote vulnerabilities have been discovered in the proftpd FTP daemon, which may lead to the execution of arbitrary code or denial of service. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project identifies the following problems: CVE-2006-5815 It was discovered that a buffer overflow in the sreplace() function may lead to denial of service and possibly the execution of arbitrary code. CVE-2006-6170 It was discovered that a buffer overflow in the mod_tls addon module may lead to the execution of arbitrary code. CVE-2006-6171 It was discovered that insufficient validation of FTP command buffer size limits may lead to denial of service. Due to unclear information this issue was already fixed in DSA-1218 as CVE-2006-5815.

advisories/debian/debian-new-proftpd-packages-fix-several-vulnerabilities-31340
Gentoo: fvwm fvwm-menu-directory fvwm command injection
23rd, November, 2006

A flaw in fvwm-menu-directory may permit a local attacker to execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of another user.

Gentoo: ImageMagick PALM and DCM buffer overflows
24th, November, 2006

ImageMagick improperly handles PALM and DCM images, potentially resulting in the execution of arbitrary code.

Gentoo: GNU gv Stack overflow
24th, November, 2006

GNU gv improperly handles user-supplied data possibly allowing for the execution of arbitrary code.

Gentoo: Kile Incorrect backup file permission
27th, November, 2006

Kile uses default permissions for backup files, potentially leading to information disclosure.

Gentoo: Ingo H3 Folder name shell command injection
27th, November, 2006

Ingo H3 is vulnerable to arbitrary shell command execution when handling procmail rules.

Gentoo: Mono Insecure temporary file creation
28th, November, 2006

Mono is vulnerable to linking attacks, potentially allowing a local user to overwrite arbitrary files.

Gentoo: LHa Multiple vulnerabilities
28th, November, 2006

LHa is affected by several vulnerabilities including the remote execution of arbitrary code.

Gentoo: OpenLDAP Denial of Service vulnerability
28th, November, 2006

A flaw in OpenLDAP allows remote unauthenticated attackers to cause a Denial of Service.

Mandriva: Updated apache-mod_auth_kerb packages fixes DoS vulnerability
23rd, November, 2006

An off-by-one error in the der_get_oid function in mod_auth_kerb 5.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted Kerberos message that triggers a heap-based buffer overflow in the component array. Packages have been patched to correct this issue.

Mandriva: Updated dbus packages fix D-Bus specification compliance
25th, November, 2006

On Mandriva Linux 2007.0, the path for D-Bus system bus socket was not following D-Bus specification. This could cause some implementation of the D-Bus specification to not detect the system bus correctly. This updated package ensures the location of the system bus is exported through BUS_SYSTEM_BUS_ADDRESS, in compliance with D-Bus specification.

Mandriva: Updated audacity packages fixes menu issues with French locale
28th, November, 2006

For the French locale, menu items which contained accented characters do not show up in the Audacity sound editor. This is because the French translation file was not in the correct character encoding. This issue is corrected in the updated packages.

Mandriva: Updated tar packages fix vulnerability
28th, November, 2006

GNU tar 1.16 and 1.15.1, and possibly other versions, allows user-assisted attackers to overwrite arbitrary files via a tar file that contains a GNUTYPE_NAMES record with a symbolic link, which is not properly handled by the extract_archive function in extract.c and extract_mangle function in mangle.c, a variant of CVE-2002-1216. The updated packages have been patched to address this issue.

Mandriva: Updated rpmdrake packages address several issues
29th, November, 2006

Several bugs were fixed in rpmdrake: - various people saw crashes due to invalid UTF-8 strings (#26099) - edit-urpm-sources.pl didn't start if urpmi.cfg did not exist (#27336) - MandrivaUpdate got several fixes: o it was impossible to select an update where there was only one group (#26135) o all updates are preselected by default (#25271) o all security, bugfix & normal updates were not displayed in "all updates" mode (#27268) o default is now "all updates" rather than "security updates"

Mandriva: Updated drakxtools packages address several issues
29th, November, 2006

Several bugs were fixed in drakxtools/

RedHat: Critical: jbossas security update
27th, November, 2006

An updated jbossas package that corrects a security vulnerability is now available for Red Hat Application Stack. This update has been rated as having critical security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

advisories/red-hat/redhat-critical-jbossas-security-update-RHSA-2006-0743-01
SuSE: phpMyAdmin (SUSE-SA:2006:071)
24th, November, 2006

Updated package.

SuSE: openldap2-client (SUSE-SA:2006:072)
24th, November, 2006

Updated package.

Ubuntu: tar vulnerability
27th, November, 2006

Teemu Salmela discovered that tar still handled the deprecated GNUTYPE_NAMES record type. This record type could be used to create symlinks that would be followed while unpacking a tar archive. If a user or an automated system were tricked into unpacking a specially crafted tar file, arbitrary files could be overwritten with user privileges.

advisories/ubuntu/ubuntu-tar-vulnerability
Ubuntu: ImageMagick vulnerability
27th, November, 2006

Daniel Kobras discovered multiple buffer overflows in ImageMagick's SGI file format decoder. By tricking a user or an automated system into processing a specially crafted SGI image, this could be exploited to execute arbitrary code with the user's privileges.

advisories/ubuntu/ubuntu-imagemagick-vulnerability-80166
Ubuntu: Dovecot vulnerability
28th, November, 2006

Dovecot was discovered to have an error when handling its index cache files. This error could be exploited by authenticated POP and IMAP users to cause a crash of the Dovecot server, or possibly to execute arbitrary code. Only servers using the non-default option "mmap_disable=yes" were vulnerable.

advisories/ubuntu/ubuntu-dovecot-vulnerability-32142
Ubuntu: KOffice vulnerability
29th, November, 2006

An integer overflow was discovered in KOffice's filtering code. By tricking a user into opening a specially crafted PPT file, attackers could crash KOffice or possibly execute arbitrary code with the user's privileges.

advisories/ubuntu/ubuntu-koffice-vulnerability-30092
Ubuntu: GnuPG vulnerability
29th, November, 2006

A buffer overflow was discovered in GnuPG. By tricking a user into running gpg interactively on a specially crafted message, an attacker could execute arbitrary code with the user's privileges. This vulnerability is not exposed when running gpg in batch mode.

advisories/ubuntu/ubuntu-gnupg-vulnerability-58303