CERT Advisory CA-2002-34 Buffer Overflow in Solaris X Window Font Service

From: CERT Advisory (cert-advisory@cert.org)
Date: 11/26/02

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    CERT Advisory CA-2002-34 Buffer Overflow in Solaris X Window Font Service

       Original release date: November 25, 2002
       Last revised: --
       Source: CERT/CC

       A complete revision history can be found at the end of this file.

    Systems Affected

         * Sun Microsystems Solaris 2.5.1 (Sparc/Intel)
         * Sun Microsystems Solaris 2.6 (Sparc/Intel)
         * Sun Microsystems Solaris 7 (Sparc/Intel)
         * Sun Microsystems Solaris 8 (Sparc/Intel)
         * Sun Microsystems Solaris 9 (Sparc)

    Overview

       The Solaris X Window Font Service (XFS) daemon (fs.auto) contains a
       remotely exploitable buffer overflow vulnerability that could allow an
       attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service.

    I. Description

       A remotely exploitable buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the
       Solaris X Window Font Service (XFS) daemon (fs.auto). Exploitation of
       this vulnerability can lead to arbitrary code execution on a
       vulnerable Solaris system. This vulnerability was discovered by ISS
       X-Force.

       The Solaris X Window Font Service (XFS) serves font files to clients.
       Sun describes the XFS service as follows:

         The X Font Server is a simple TCP/IP-based service that serves font
         files to its clients. Clients connect to the server to request a
         font set, and the server reads the font files off the disk and
         serves them to the clients. The X Font Server daemon consists of a
         server binary /usr/openwin/bin/xfs.

       The XFS daemon is installed and running by default on all versions of
       the Solaris operating system. Further information about this
       vulnerability may be found in VU#312313.

         http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/312313

       This vulnerability is also being referred to as CAN-2002-1317 by CVE.

       Note this vulnerability is in the X Window Font Server, and not the
       filesystem of a similar name.

    II. Impact

       A remote attacker can execute arbitrary code with the privileges of
       the fs.auto daemon (typically nobody) or cause a denial of service by
       crashing the service.

    III. Solution

    Apply a patch from your vendor

       Appendix A contains information provided by vendors for this advisory.
       As vendors report new information to the CERT/CC, we will update this
       section and note the changes in our revision history. If a particular
       vendor is not listed below, we have not received their comments.
       Please contact your vendor directly.

    Disable vulnerable service

       Until patches can be applied, you may wish to disable the XFS daemon
       (fs.auto). As a best practice, the CERT/CC recommends disabling all
       services that are not explicitly required. On a typical Solaris
       system, it should be possible to disable the fs.auto daemon by
       commenting out the relevant entries in /etc/inetd.conf and then
       restarting the inetd process.

    Workarounds

       Block access to port 7100/TCP at your network perimeter. Note that
       this will not protect vulnerable hosts within your network perimeter.

    Appendix A. - Vendor Information

    NetBSD

       NetBSD ships the xfs from XFree86, though its not on or used by
       default.

    OpenBSD

       We do not have XFS.

    SGI

       We're not vulnerable to this.

    Sun Microsystems

       The Solaris X font server (xfs(1)) is affected by VU#312313 in the
       following supported versions of Solaris:

       Solaris 2.6
       Solaris 7
       Solaris 8
       Solaris 9

       Patches are being generated for all of the above releases. Sun will
       be publishing a Sun Alert for this issue at the following location
       shortly:

       http://sunsolve.Sun.COM/pub-cgi/retrieve.pl?doc=fsalert/48879

       The patches will be available from:

       http://sunsolve.sun.com/securitypatch

    Appendix B. - References

        1. ISS X-Force Security Advisory: Solaris fs.auto Remote Compromise
           Vulnerability -
           http://bvlive01.iss.net/issEn/delivery/xforce/alertdetail.jsp?oid=
           21541

        2. Sun Cluster 3.0 U1 Data Services Developer's Guide, Chapter 6:
           Sample DSDL Resource Type Implementation -
           http://docs.sun.com/db/doc/806-7072/6jfvjtg1l?q=xfs&a=view

        3. CERT/CC Vulnerability Note: VU#312313 -
           http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/312313

        4. CVE reference number CAN-2002-1317. Information available at
           http://cve.mitre.org
         _________________________________________________________________

       Internet Security Systems publicly reported this vulnerability.
         _________________________________________________________________

       Authors: Ian A. Finlay and Shawn V. Hernan.
       ______________________________________________________________________

       This document is available from:
       http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2002-34.html
       ______________________________________________________________________

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       Copyright 2002 Carnegie Mellon University.

       Revision History
    November 25, 2002: Initial release

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