TUCoPS :: SunOS/Solaris :: n-050.txt

Sun sendmail-1M forward Constructs Vulnerability (CIAC N-050)

            __________________________________________________________

                       The U.S. Department of Energy
                   Computer Incident Advisory Capability
                           ___  __ __    _     ___
                          /       |     /_\   /
                          \___  __|__  /   \  \___
             __________________________________________________________

                             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
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