AusCERT - AL-2009.0040 -- [UNIX/Linux] -- Cyrus SASL: Execute Arbitrary Code

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AL-2009.0040 -- [UNIX/Linux] -- Cyrus SASL: Execute Arbitrary Code
Date: 15 May 2009
References: ESB-2009.0474 ESB-2009.0519 ESB-2009.0585 ESB-2009.1095 ESB-2010.0282

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A  U  S  C  E  R  T                                           A  L  E  R  T

                       AL-2009.0040 -- AUSCERT ALERT
                               [UNIX/Linux]
                    Cyrus SASL: Execute Arbitrary Code
                                15 May 2009

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        AusCERT Alert Summary
        ---------------------

Product:              Cyrus SASL
Publisher:            US-CERT
Operating System:     UNIX variants (UNIX, Linux, OSX)
Impact:               Execute Arbitrary Code/Commands
                      Denial of Service
Access:               Remote/Unauthenticated
CVE Names:            CVE-2009-0688

Original Bulletin:    http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/238019

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Vulnerability Note VU#238019
Cyrus SASL library buffer overflow vulnerability

Overview

The Cyrus SASL library contains a buffer overflow vulnerability that could 
allow an attacker to execute code or cause a vulnerable program to crash.

I. Description

SASL (Simple Authentication and Security Layer) is a method for adding 
authentication support to various protocols. SASL is commonly used by 
mail servers to request authentication from clients and by clients to 
authenticate to servers.

The sasl_encode64() function converts a string into base64. The Cyrus 
SASL library contains buffer overflows that occur because of unsafe use 
of the sasl_encode64() function.

II. Impact

A remote attacker might be able to execute code, or cause any programs 
relying on SASL to crash or be unavailable.

III. Solution

Upgrade

Cyrus SASL 2.1.23 has been released to address this issue. Before 
releasing fixed binaries, maintainers are encouraged to review the Cyrus 
vendor statement associated with this note.

Systems Affected

Vendor	                   Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Conectiva Inc.	           Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Cray Inc.	           Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Cyrus-IMAP	           Vulnerable	2009-05-13
Debian GNU/Linux       	   Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Engarde Secure Linux	   Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Fedora Project	           Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Gentoo Linux	           Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Hewlett-Packard Company	   Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
IBM Corporation (zseries)  Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
IBM eServer	           Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Ingrian Networks, Inc.	   Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Mandriva S. A.	           Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
MontaVista Software, Inc.  Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Novell, Inc.	           Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Openwall GNU/*/Linux	   Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Red Hat, Inc.	           Vulnerable	2009-04-28	2009-05-14
SafeNet	                   Unknown	2009-05-13	2009-05-13
Slackware Linux Inc.	   Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Sun Microsystems, Inc.	   Vulnerable	2009-04-28	2009-05-14
SUSE Linux	           Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
The SCO Group	           Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Turbolinux	           Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
Ubuntu	                   Unknown	2009-04-28	2009-04-28
References


ftp://ftp.andrew.cmu.edu/pub/cyrus-mail/cyrus-sasl-2.1.23.tar.gz
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Base64&oldid=285664115
Credit

Thanks to James Ralston for reporting this issue and providing technical 
information.

This document was written by Ryan Giobbi.
Other Information
Date Public:	        2009-04-08
Date First Published:	2009-05-14
Date Last Updated:	2009-05-14
CERT Advisory:	 
CVE-ID(s):	        CVE-2009-0688
NVD-ID(s):	        CVE-2009-0688
US-CERT Technical Alerts:	 
Metric:	                4.04
Document Revision:	21

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