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The U.S. Department of Energy
Computer Incident Advisory Capability
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INFORMATION BULLETIN
Sun Vulnerability in Solaris "AnswerBook2 Documentation" Admin Script
[Sun Alert ID: 57400]
October 20, 2003 17:00 GMT Number O-011
______________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM: A malicious user can access the administration of the
AnswerBook2.
Note--The AnswerBook2 Documentation Server gives
customers the ability to view Sun documentation using their
favoriate browser.
SOFTWARE: AnswerBook2 Documentation Server Version 1.4.4 or earlier
DAMAGE: An unprivileged local or remote users may be able to execute
AnswerBook2 (AB2) administrative commands, such as creating new
AB2 adminstrator accounts on systems configured as AnswerBook2
servers.
SOLUTION: Upgrade to appropriate patch.
______________________________________________________________________________
VULNERABILITY The risk is LOW. A malicious user can access the administration
ASSESSMENT: and create new accounts.
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LINKS:
CIAC BULLETIN: http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/o-011.shtml
ORIGINAL BULLETIN: Sun Alert ID: 57400
http://www.sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/retrieve.pl?doc=fsalert
%2F57400&zone_32=category%3Asecurity
______________________________________________________________________________
[***** Start Sun Alert ID: 57400 *****]
Sun(sm) Alert Notification
Sun Alert ID: 57400
Synopsis: Vulnerability in Solaris "AnswerBook2 Documentation Server" Admin Script
Category: Security
Product: AnswerBook2 Documentation Server
BugIDs: 4859614
Avoidance: Workaround
State: Resolved
Date Released: 16-Oct-2003
Date Closed: 16-Oct-2003
Date Modified:
1. Impact
Unprivileged local or remote users may be able to execute AnswerBook2 (AB2)
administrative commands, such as creating new AB2 administrator accounts on systems
configured as AnswerBook2 servers.
This issue is one of two vulnerabilities discussed in S21sec advisory s21sec-004 at:
http://www.s21sec.com/en/avisos/s21sec-004-en.txt
The other vulnerability discussed in the S21sec advisory is described in Sun Alert
23412.
2. Contributing Factors
This issue can occur in the following releases:
SPARC Platform
* AnswerBook2 Documentation Server versions 1.4.4 or earlier
x86 Platform
* AnswerBook2 Documentation Server versions 1.4.4 or earlier
Note: AnswerBook2 is no longer supported as of Solaris 9, and thus Solaris 9 is not
affected.
To determine the version of the currently installed AnswerBook2 Server, run the
following command:
$ grep SUNW_PRODVERS /var/sadm/pkg/SUNWab2[rsu]/pkginfo
/var/sadm/pkg/SUNWab2r/pkginfo:SUNW_PRODVERS=1.4.4
/var/sadm/pkg/SUNWab2s/pkginfo:SUNW_PRODVERS=1.4.4
/var/sadm/pkg/SUNWab2u/pkginfo:SUNW_PRODVERS=1.4.4
3. Symptoms
The appearance of suspicious (unknown) AnswerBook2 administrator accounts in the file
"/usr/lib/ab2/dweb/data/config/admin_passwd" may indicate that the described issue has
been exploited to add additional AB2 administrator accounts. Each line in this file
starts with the name of an AnswerBook2 administrator account. For example, the lines:
ab2admin:AA7Zghd5fFgfF
peter:AA65RfgdtzHggdh
mary:AAFgdt569Uhgf
indicate that there are currently three AnswerBook2 administrator accounts named
"ab2admin", "peter" and "mary".
There are no predictable symptoms that would show the described issue has been
exploited to execute other AnswerBook2 (AB2) administrative commands on a system.
Solution Summary Top
4. Relief/Workaround
To prevent the unauthorized addition of AB2 administrators, change the permissions of
the AB2 "password" file as the root user:
# chmod a-w /usr/lib/ab2/dweb/data/config/admin_passwd
This will prevent additional AB2 administrators from being added.
If additional admins are required, one can add write access to the file temporarily,
add the admin, remove write access once again - then check the file to make sure the
listed admins are correct.
Sites which have configured AnswerBook2 Documentation Servers may wish to disable AB2
and instead refer to Sun documentation at the Sun Product Documentation web site:
http://docs.sun.com or view the documentation on the Solaris Documentation CD.
To disable the AnswerBook2 Documentation Server, the following commands can be run as
the root user:
# /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o stop
# /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o autostart_no
5. Resolution
Please see the "Relief/Workaround" section for the resolution to this issue.
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, the 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: 57400 *****]
_______________________________________________________________________________
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
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