__________________________________________________________

                       The U.S. Department of Energy
                    Computer Incident Advisory Capability
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             __________________________________________________________

                                    ADVISORY

                        Update on the Vulnerability in innd

March 20, 1997 19:00 GMT                                         Number H-43
_____________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM:       Increased activity in attempts to exploit a vulnerability
               that exists in versions of INN (InterNetNews server) up
               to and including 1.5.1.
PLATFORM:      All platforms with INN and its derivatives.
DAMAGE:        Remote users may run local commands on the server.
SOLUTION:      CIAC recommends that you immediately verify and correct the
               configuration of your 1.5.1 upgrade.
_____________________________________________________________________________
VULNERABILITY  Exploit details involving this vulnerability have been made
ASSESSMENT:    publicly available.
_____________________________________________________________________________


Current Information
-------------------

A number of sites have noticed break-in attempts to exploit the innd
vulnerability.  Spoofing attempts have been forged in the name of trusted
individuals who issue "official" USENET messages.  Many news sites are
configured to automatically process these messages.  The INN daemon
processes control messages in a script. This automatic process combined
with the error in version 1.5 allows individuals to run commands on the
server.  For more details on the vulnerability, reference CIAC Bulletin
H-34: Vulnerability in innd.

As recommended in the CIAC bulletin, a clean installation of INN 1.5.1
corrects the security flaw. ATTENTION: Other methods to update from
a prior version may not replace the vulnerable scripts. They are simply
retained as part of the configuration.  All configuration and script files
should be compared with the current version.  The "parsecontrol" script
is currently being targeted and should be replaced.

Solution
--------

Upgrade as recommended in CIAC Bulletin H-34 and compare all configuration
files. Specifically, the parsecontrol script should be replaced with correct
one supply with the patch.

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CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability, is the computer
security incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) and the emergency backup response team for the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). CIAC is located at the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory in Livermore, California. CIAC is also a founding
member of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, a
global organization established to foster cooperation and coordination
among computer security teams worldwide.

CIAC services are available to DOE, DOE contractors, and the NIH. CIAC
can be contacted at:
    Voice:    +1 510-422-8193
    FAX:      +1 510-423-8002
    STU-III:  +1 510-423-2604
    E-mail:   ciac@llnl.gov

For emergencies and off-hour assistance, DOE, DOE contractor sites,
and the NIH may contact CIAC 24-hours a day. During off hours (5PM -
8AM PST), call the CIAC voice number 510-422-8193 and leave a message,
or call 800-759-7243 (800-SKY-PAGE) to send a Sky Page. CIAC has two
Sky Page PIN numbers, the primary PIN number, 8550070, is for the CIAC
duty person, and the secondary PIN number, 8550074 is for the CIAC
Project Leader.

Previous CIAC notices, anti-virus software, and other information are
available from the CIAC Computer Security Archive.

   World Wide Web:      http://ciac.llnl.gov/
   Anonymous FTP:       ciac.llnl.gov (128.115.19.53)
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PLEASE NOTE: Many users outside of the DOE, ESnet, and NIH computing
communities receive CIAC bulletins.  If you are not part of these
communities, please contact your agency's response team to report
incidents. Your agency's team will coordinate with CIAC. The Forum of
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This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an
agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States
Government nor the University of California nor any of their
employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any
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LAST 10 CIAC BULLETINS ISSUED (Previous bulletins available from CIAC)

H-33: HP-UX ftpd/kftpd Vulnerability
H-34: Vulnerability in innd
H-35: HP-UX vgdisplay command Vulnerability
H-36: Solaris 2.x CDE sdtcm_convert Vulnerability
H-37: Solaris 2.x passwd buffer Overrun Vulnerability
H-38A: Internet Explorer 3.x Vulnerabilities
H-39: SGI IRIX fsdump Vulnerability
H-40: DIGITAL Security Vulnerabilities (DoP, delta-time)
H-41: Solaris 2.x eject Buffer Overrun Vulnerability
H-42: HP MPE/iX with ICMP Echo Request (ping) Vulnerability