IBM AIX 4.3.x and 5.1: Buffer overflow vulnerability in telnet daemon

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1 AUG 2001  0:30 GMT                              MSS-OAR-E01-2001:298.1
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IBM SECURITY ADVISORY

Fri Jul 27 13:17:01 CDT 2001
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                           VULNERABILITY SUMMARY

VULNERABILITY:    Buffer overflow vulnerability in telnet daemon

PLATFORMS:        IBM AIX 4.3.x and 5.1

SOLUTION:         Apply the emergency-fixes described below, or
                  employ the workaround, also described below.

THREAT:           Malicious user could obtain root privileges or
                  could force a system crash.

CERT Advisory:    CA-2001-21

===========================================================================
                           DETAILED INFORMATION

I.  Description

    AIX ships with a version of the "telnet" daemon, derived from the
    original BSD version.

    This daemon is shipped SUID, or "set user ID", and is
    executable by an ordinary user.

    In the AIX version of "telnetd", as well as most other versions
    of "telnetd" derived from the BSD telnet daemon, there exists a buffer
    overflow vulnerability in telrcv(), the function that processes
    various options under telnet. There is an output buffer in the
    function that holds the information gathered during the parsing
    of the option request and the daemon's internal state. This
    buffer is not bounds checked, allowing for the possibility of
    forcing an overflow condition in the stack when the buffer
    returns its data to the telnet client.

II. Impact

   A malicious local or remote user can use a well-crafted exploit code
   to gain root privileges on the attacked system, compromising the
   integrity of the system and its attached local network.

   IBM believes this is a difficult vulnerability to exploit with the
   goal of obtaining enhanced system privileges, but it is not very
   difficult to force a core dump, and possibly a system crash.
   Exploits already exist in the wild, and are being maliciously
   used.

   An exploit obtained by the AIX Security Team has been shown to
   produce a core dump, though AIX remained stable. Other exploits,
   though, may cause more serious harm.

   Customers are urged to take measures to close this
   vulnerability.

III.  Solutions

  A.  WORKAROUND

      If you do not wish to install the efix for this vulnerability
      but instead wait for the APAR that fixes it to be made
      available, you can also negate this vulnerability by making the
      telnet daemon to be non-SUID. You must be "root" to do this.
      However, ordinary users will not be able to use the daemon if
      the SUID bit is removed.

      Customers may wish to consider replacing telnet with a version
      of Secure Shell (SSH), available from a variety of providers,
      as a security enhancement over telnet.

  B.  Official fix

      IBM is working on the following fixes which will be available
      soon:

      AIX 4.3.x and 5.1: APAR assignment pending.

      NOTE: Fix will not be provided for versions prior to 4.3 as
      these are no longer supported by IBM. Affected customers are
      urged to upgrade to 4.3.3 at the latest maintenance level,
      or to 5.1.

  C.  How to minimize the vulnerability

    Temporary fixes for AIX 4.3.x and 5.1 systems are available.

    The temporary fixes can be downloaded via ftp from:

    ftp://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/security/telnetd_efix.tar.Z

    The efix compressed tarball consists of two fixes: one for
    AIX 4.3.3 and one for AIX 5.1. It also includes this Advisory.
    The two fix files are "telnetd.433" for 4.3.3 and "telnetd.510"
    for 5.1.

    These temporary fixes have not been fully regression tested; thus,
    IBM does not warrant the fully correct functioning of the efix.
    Customers install the efix and operate the modified version of AIX
    at their own risk.

    To proceed with efix installation:

    First, verify the MD5 cryptographic hash sums of each efix file
    you obtain from unpacking the tarball with those given below. These
    should match exactly; if they do not, contact the AIX Security Team
    at security-alert () austin ibm com and describe the discrepancy.

    Filename        sum             md5
    =================================================================
    telnetd.433     47297   408     c7b16982f7f2011560c1b726eeae5c64
    telnetd.510     33124   383     7fa323119fa312c2c62dc7cd539d58ec


    Efix Installation Instructions:
    -------------------------------

    IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you are running AIX 4.3.3 you must install
    the version of libc (in package bos.rte.libc) that is at the level of
    4.3.3.50, or higher, before proceeding with the efix installation
    for AIX 4.3.3.

    1. Become root, if not already done.

    2. Change to the /usr/sbin directory.

       Make a backup copy of the existing telnet binary, giving it
       a distinctive, meaningful name, such as "telnetd.original"
       or "telnetd.backup". This is IMPORTANT to do, so you can
       recover the orginal telnetd binary if something goes wrong during
       the installation of the efix!

       Do the above by executing "mv telnetd telnetd.original".

    3. In the tmp ("/tmp") directory, download, uncompress, and untar
       the efix.

       a. uncompress telnetd_efix.tar
       b. tar -xvf telnetd_efix.tar

    4. You will have two files: "telnetd.433" and
       "telnetd.510". Keep the tarfile appropriate for your
       version of AIX (i.e., "433" for 4.3.3; "510" for 5.1);
       You may remove the unneeded version.

    5. Now change back to the directory /usr/sbin. Doublecheck that
       you have made a backup of your original telnetd.

    6. Execute "cp /tmp/telnet.xyz telnetd", where "xyz" is either
       "433" or "510", as appropriate.

    7. Execute "chmod 4554 telnetd".

    8. Execute "chown root:system telnetd".

    9. Execute "sync; sync; sync;"

   10. Execute "refresh -s inetd".


IV. Obtaining Fixes

IBM AIX APARs may be ordered using Electronic Fix Distribution (via the
FixDist program), or from the IBM Support Center.  For more information
on FixDist, and to obtain fixes via the Internet, please reference

        http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/rs6k/fixes.html

or send email to "aixserv () austin ibm com" with the word "FixDist" in the
"Subject:" line.

To facilitate ease of ordering all security related APARs for each AIX
release, security fixes are periodically bundled into a cumulative APAR.
For more information on these cumulative APARs including last update and
list of individual fixes, send email to "aixserv () austin ibm com" with
the word "subscribe Security_APARs" in the "Subject:" line.


V.  Acknowledgements

    Many thanks to the TESO group in Germany and to "Sebastian", a
    poster to the BUGTRAQ mailing list, for finding & bringing this
    vulnerability to our attention.

VI.  Contact Information

Comments regarding the content of this announcement can be directed to:

   security-alert () austin ibm com

To request the PGP public key that can be used to encrypt new AIX
security vulnerabilities, send email to security-alert () austin ibm com
with a subject of "get key".

If you would like to subscribe to the AIX security newsletter, send a
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To cancel your subscription, use a subject of "unsubscribe Security".
To see a list of other available subscriptions, use a subject of
"help".

IBM and AIX are a registered trademark of International Business
Machines Corporation.  All other trademarks are property of their
respective holders.

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