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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- __________________________________________________________ The U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability ___ __ __ _ ___ / | /_\ / \___ __|__ / \ \___ __________________________________________________________ INFORMATION BULLETIN DIGITAL Security Vulnerabilities (DoP, delta-time) March 11, 1997 19:00 GMT Number H-40 ______________________________________________________________________________ PROBLEM: Two vulnerabilities have been identified by DIGITAL: 1) Division of Privilege (DoP), 2) delta-time limit. PLATFORM: 1) DIGITAL UNIX v4.0, v4.0A and v4.0B. 2) DIGITAL OpenVMS system. DAMAGE: 1) this vulnerability may allow local users to gain root privileges. 2) may cause a serious error on or around 19-MAY-1997. SOLUTION: Install the proper patches and/or use the workarounds provided below. ______________________________________________________________________________ VULNERABILITY Exploit details involving these vulnerabilities have been made ASSESSMENT: publicly available. ______________________________________________________________________________ [ Start DIGITAL Advisories ] 1. Division of Privilege (DoP) ______________________________________________________________________________ PRODUCT: DIGITAL UNIX[TM] V4.0, V4.0A, V4.0B MARCH 6, 1997 TITLE: Division of Privilege (DoP) - Potential Security Vulnerability SOURCE: Digital Equipment Corporation Software Security Response Team/Colorado Springs USA "Digital is broadly distributing this Security Advisory in order to bring to the attention of users of Digital's products the important security information contained in this Advisory. Digital recommends that all users determine the applicability of this information to their individual situations and take appropriate action. Digital does not warrant that this information is necessarily accurate or complete for all user situations and, consequently, Digital will not be responsible for any damages resulting from user's use or disregard of the information provided in this Advisory." - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPACT: Digital has discovered a potential vulnerability with the Division of Privilege (DoP), "/usr/sbin/dop" for DIGITAL UNIX V4.0, V4.0A and V4.0B, where under certain circumstances, an unauthorized user may gain unauthorized privileges. Digital strongly recommends that the workaround be implemented immediately for any version affected, and that the appropriate patch kit be installed as soon as it becomes available. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RESOLUTION: This potential security issue has been resolved and an official fix for this problem will be made available beginning the 13th of March 1997. As the patches become available per affected version, Digital will provide them through: o the World Wide Web at the following FTP address: ftp://ftp.service.digital.com/public/ the sub directory Digital_UNIX, key identifier SSRT0435U Note: [1]The patch kits mentioned above will be replaced in the near future through normal patch release procedures. [2]The appropriate patch kit must be reinstalled following any upgrade beginning with V4.0 up to and including V4.0b. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TEMPORARY WORKAROUND: Prior to receiving the official patch for this fix, a temporary workaround for this problem is to clear the setuid bit from the /usr/sbin/dop command as follows: # chmod 0 /usr/sbin/dop This temporary workaround will resolve the security issue, but will also defeat DoP's purpose. See "ADDITIONAL COMMENTS" below for the purpose of DoP, the effect of using this temporary workaround, and what to do as a solution while using this temporary workaround. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: The DoP command is used to provide non-root users with the ability to enter the root password to access the graphical system management applications via the CDE application manager or the Host Manager. When a non-root user attempts to execute a system management application through one of these applications, the user will be prompted with a password dialog. If the user enters the correct root password, they will gain root privilege while running the given application. If the setuid bit is cleared from /usr/sbin/dop, then users will not be able to access the system management applications from either the CDE application manager or the Host Manager. The following are workarounds to allow users to run the graphical system management applications with DoP disabled: [1] Log into a CDE session as root and access the system management applications. [2] If logged in as a normal user, become root in your preferred X-based terminal emulator (xterm, dxterm, dtterm, etc.) and run the graphical system management application via the command line. If you need further information, please contact your normal DIGITAL support channel. DIGITAL appreciates your cooperation and patience. We regret any inconvenience applying this information may cause. __________________________________________________________________ Copyright (c) Digital Equipment Corporation, 1995 All Rights Reserved. Unpublished Rights Reserved Under The Copyright Laws Of The United States. ______________________________________________________________________________ 2. delta-time limit ______________________________________________________________________________ DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION "Digital is broadly distributing this Security Advisory in order to bring to the attention of users of Digital's products the important security information contained in this Advisory. Digital recommends that all users determine the applicability of this information to their individual situations and take appropriate action. Digital does not warrant that this information is necessarily accurate or complete for all user situations and, consequently, Digital will not be responsible for any damages resulting from user's use or disregard of the information provided in this Advisory." DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION OpenVMS[TM] Delta-Time Limit Notification Cover Letter AV-R4Y1A-TE February 1997 Dear OpenVMS Customer, The OpenVMS operating system has a documented delta-time limit that may cause a serious error in some applications and OpenVMS components beginning on or around 19-MAY-1997. DIGITAL has provided ECOs (Engineering Change Orders) that remove the delta-time limit. Applications and OpenVMS components most likely to experience errors are those that pass delta-time arguments with values exceeding 9999 days on system-supplied date routines. The most likely date that these errors will occur is 19-MAY-1997:00:00, which is 10,000 days after the common UNIX time origin of 1-JAN-1970. DIGITAL strongly recommends that all customers running the affected versions of OpenVMS install the appropriate ECO, as follows: For OpenVMS Alpha Version 6.1 through Version 7.0: ALPLIBR05_070 For OpenVMS VAX Version 5.5 through Version 7.0: VAXLIBR05_070 Systems running OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.1 and OpenVMS VAX Version 7.1 are not affected and do not need to install the ECO. The following OpenVMS components and software products are known to be affected by the delta-time limit. The ECOs correct the problems observed in these products. ________________________________________________________________ Product________________________________OpenVMS_Version__________ OpenVMS SECURITY Server OpenVMS Alpha V7.0 only DECwindows Motif for OpenVMS OpenVMS Alpha V7.0 only Distributed Computing Environment OpenVMS Alpha V6.2 only (DCE) for OpenVMS OpenVMS DECthreads OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS VAX V5.5 through V7.0 (OSU) DECthreads HTTP Server (free- OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS ware provided with the OpenVMS VAX V5.5 through V7.0 Internet_Product_Suite)_________________________________________ Other software products running on OpenVMS might also experience errors stemming from this delta-time limit. Contact the appropriate software vendor for more information. Impact on Application Developers Application developers and their customers must install the appropriate ECO. If an application developer uses OpenVMS shareable images, there is no required code change and relinking is not necessary; installing the ECO on the customer system corrects the problem. If an application developer does not use OpenVMS shareable images (that is, links using STARLET) and the application is subject to the 10,000 day restriction, no code change is required. However, the developer must relink the application after installing the ECO and might need to redistribute the software. The application developer's customers must also install the ECO on their systems. If your application calls the following OpenVMS RTL Library (LIB$) routines, you may encounter errors due to the 10,000 day delta-time limit. LIB$CVT_TO_INTERNAL_TIME LIB$SUB_TIMES LIB$CVT_FROM_INTERNAL_TIME LIB$MULT_DELTA_TIME LIB$CVTF_TO_INTERNAL_TIME LIB$MULTF_DELTA_TIME LIB$CVTF_FROM_INTERNAL_TIME LIB$CONVERT_DATE_STRING LIB$CVT_VECTIM LIB$ADD_TIMES Applications that are written in DEC C and contain portable code that calls only ANSI time functions are not impacted. Distribution Channels DIGITAL is distributing the ECOs only through the following channels. Customers should obtain the ECOs from: o DIGITAL Electronic Service Delivery Tools (such as DSNlink, Web Information and Support Service (WIS), and DIGITAL Dial- In Access (DIA)) o the World Wide Web at: http://www.service.digital.com/html/patch_main.html o the following FTP address: ftp://ftp.service.digital.com/public/vms/ If you need further information, please contact your normal DIGITAL support channel. DIGITAL appreciates your cooperation and patience. We regret any inconvenience applying this update may cause. (c)Digital Equipment Corporation. 1997. All rights reserved. ___________________ [TM] The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation: OpenVMS, VAX, VMS, and the DIGITAL logo. [ End DIGITAL Advisories ] ______________________________________________________________________________ CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of DIGITAL Equipment Corporation 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 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) Modem access: +1 (510) 423-4753 (28.8K baud) +1 (510) 423-3331 (28.8K baud) CIAC has several self-subscribing mailing lists for electronic publications: 1. 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To subscribe (add yourself) to one of our mailing lists, send the following request as the E-mail message body, substituting CIAC-BULLETIN, CIAC-NOTES, SPI-ANNOUNCE or SPI-NOTES for list-name and valid information for LastName FirstName and PhoneNumber when sending E-mail to ciac-listproc@llnl.gov: subscribe list-name LastName, FirstName PhoneNumber e.g., subscribe ciac-notes OHara, Scarlett W. 404-555-1212 x36 You will receive an acknowledgment containing address, initial PIN, and information on how to change either of them, cancel your subscription, or get help. 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 Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is a world-wide organization. A list of FIRST member organizations and their constituencies can be obtained via WWW at http://www.first.org/. 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 legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the University of California, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. 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