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The U.S. Department of Energy
Computer Incident Advisory Capability
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INFORMATION BULLETIN
Sun sendmail(1M) ".forward" Constructs Vulnerability
[Sun Alert ID: 50904]
March 7, 2003 17:00 GMT Number N-050
______________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM: A security issue has been discovered with how Sun's
sendmail(1M) handles some $HOME/.forward constructs.
PLATFORM: SPARC - Solaris 7, 8, and 9
x86 - Solaris 7, 8, and 9
DAMAGE: Local unprivileged users may possibly gain unauthorized root
access to their mail server or cause a denial of service to it.
SOLUTION: Apply vendor available patches.
______________________________________________________________________________
VULNERABILITY The risk is MEDIUM. There are no reliable symptoms that would
ASSESSMENT: show the described issue has been exploited to gain
unauthorized root access.
______________________________________________________________________________
LINKS:
CIAC BULLETIN: http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/N-050.shtml
ORIGINAL BULLETIN: http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/retrieve.pl?doc=fsalert%
2F50904&zone_32=category%3Asecurity
______________________________________________________________________________
[***** Start Sun Alert ID: 50904 *****]
Sun(sm) Alert Notification
Sun Alert ID: 50904
Synopsis: Sun sendmail(1M) does not Handle Some ".forward" Constructs Correctly
Category: Security
Product: Solaris
BugIDs: 4756570
Avoidance: Patch
State: Resolved
Date Released: 05-Mar-2003
Date Closed: 05-Mar-2003
Date Modified:
1. Impact
Local unprivileged users may be able to cause a denial of service against
their mail server or possibly gain unauthorized root access to their mail
server due to a security issue with how Sun's sendmail(1M) handles some
$HOME/.forward constructs.
2. Contributing Factors
This issue can occur in the following releases:
SPARC Platform
Solaris 7 without patch 107684-06
Solaris 8 without patch 110615-07
Solaris 9 without patch 113575-02
x86 Platform
Solaris 7 without patch 107685-06
Solaris 8 without patch 110616-07
Solaris 9 without patch 114137-01
Note: Solaris 2.6 is not impacted by this issue. Solaris 2.5.1 will not
be evaluated regarding the potential impact of the issue described in
this Sun Alert document.
3. Symptoms
There are no reliable symptoms that would show the described issue has
been exploited to gain unauthorized root access to a host. The denial
of service symptoms would primarily be the inability of local or remote
users to login.
Solution Summary
Top
4. Relief/Workaround
To work around the described issue, modify the *.mc file used to generate
the /etc/mail/sendmail.cf file by adding the following line in the *.mc file:
define(`VENDOR_NAME', `Berkeley')dnl
Generate the new /etc/mail/sendmail.cf file from this revised *.mc file
and copy this to /etc/mail/sendmail.cf. Please refer to /usr/lib/mail/README
for additional information on how to use the *.mc files.
Or, edit the /etc/mail/sendmail.cf (not recommended) by changing the
following line in the /etc/mail/sendmail.cf file from:
V10/Sun
to:
V10/Berkeley
Restart sendmail once the /etc/mail/sendmail.cf file has been modified:
# /etc/init.d/sendmail stop
# /etc/init.d/sendmail start
5. Resolution
This issue is addressed in the following releases:
SPARC Platform
Solaris 7 with patch 107684-06 or later
Solaris 8 with patch 110615-07 or later
Solaris 9 with patch 113575-02 or later
x86 Platform
Solaris 7 with patch 107685-06 or later
Solaris 8 with patch 110616-07 or later
Solaris 9 with patch 114137-01 or later
Note: In order to activate the fix above, restart sendmail once the
patches have been installed:
# /etc/init.d/sendmail stop
# /etc/init.d/sendmail start
This Sun Alert notification is being provided to you on an "AS IS" basis.
This Sun Alert notification may contain information provided by third
parties. The issues described in this Sun Alert notification may or may
not impact your system(s). Sun makes no representations, warranties, or
guarantees as to the information contained herein. ANY AND ALL
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT,
ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. BY ACCESSING THIS DOCUMENT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT
SUN SHALL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT ARISE OUT OF YOUR USE OR FAILURE
TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. This Sun Alert notification
contains Sun proprietary and confidential information. It is being
provided to you pursuant to the provisions of your agreement to purchase
services from Sun, or, if you do not have such an agreement, th! e Sun.com
Terms of Use. This Sun Alert notification may only be used for the purposes
contemplated by these agreements.
Copyright 2000-2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,
CA 95054 U.S.A. All rights reserved.
[***** End Sun Alert ID: 50904 *****]
_______________________________________________________________________________
CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Sun Microsystems for the
information contained in this bulletin.
_______________________________________________________________________________
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
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E-mail: ciac@ciac.org
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communities receive CIAC bulletins. If you are not part of these
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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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