Published:
24 June 1997
Protect yourself against future threats.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
===========================================================================
AUSCERT External Security Bulletin Redistribution
ESB-97.075 -- Sun Security Bulletin #00143
Vulnerability in eeprom
25 June 1997
===========================================================================
Sun Microsystems, Inc has released the following advisory concerning a
vulnerability in eeprom. This vulnerability may allow non-privileged
users to gain privileged access, including root privileges.
The following security bulletin is provided as a service to AUSCERT's
members. As AUSCERT did not write this document, AUSCERT has had no
control over its content. As such, the decision to use any or all of this
information is the responsibility of each user or organisation, and should
be done so in accordance with site policies and procedures.
Contact information for Sun Microsystems, Inc is included in the Security
Bulletin below. If you have any questions or need further information,
please contact them directly.
Previous advisories and external security bulletins can be retrieved from:
http://www.auscert.org.au/information/advisories.html
If you believe that your system has been compromised, contact AUSCERT or
your representative in FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security
Teams).
Internet Email: auscert@auscert.org.au
Facsimile: (07) 3365 4477
Telephone: (07) 3365 4417 (International: +61 7 3365 4417)
AUSCERT personnel answer during Queensland business hours
which are GMT+10:00 (AEST).
On call after hours for emergencies.
- --------------------------BEGIN INCLUDED TEXT--------------------
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sun Microsystems, Inc. Security Bulletin
Bulletin Number: #00143
Date: June 24 1997
Cross-Ref:
Title: Vulnerability in eeprom
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Permission is granted for the redistribution of this Bulletin, so long as
the Bulletin is not edited and is attributed to Sun Microsystems. Portions
may also be excerpted for re-use in other security advisories so long as
proper attribution is included.
Any other use of this information without the express written consent of
Sun Microsystems is prohibited. Sun Microsystems expressly disclaims all
liability for any misuse of this information by any third party.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Bulletins Topics
Sun announces the release of patches for Solaris 2.5.1, 2.5, 2.4, and 2.3
(SunOS 5.5.1, 5.5, 5.4, and 5.3), that relate to a vulnerability in the
eeprom program.
Sun strongly recommends that you install the patches listed in section 4
immediately on every affected system.
2. Who is Affected
Vulnerable: SunOS versions 5.5.1, 5.5, 5.4, and 5.3 for SPARC only.
Not vulnerable: All other supported versions of SunOS
The vulnerability is fixed in the upcoming release of Solaris.
3. Understanding the Vulnerability
The eeprom program changes or displays the values of parameters in EEPROM.
The EEPROM (Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory) is a
non-volatile PROM that holds information about the current system
configuration, alternate boot paths, and other information. Due to
insufficient bounds checking on arguments passed to the eeprom program,
it is possible to overwrite the internal stack space of eeprom while it is
executing. Since eeprom has setgid bin permissions, this vulnerability may
allow non-privileged users to gain privileged access, including root
privileges.
4. List of Patches
The vulnerability in eeprom is fixed by the following patches:
OS version Patch ID
---------- --------
SunOS 5.5.1 104795-01
SunOS 5.5 104796-01
SunOS 5.4 104798-01
SunOS 5.3 104797-01
Intel x86 systems do not have the eeprom program and are not
affected by this vulnerability.
5. Checksum Table
The checksum table below shows the BSD checksums (SunOS 5.x: /usr/ucb/sum),
SVR4 checksums (SunOS 5.x: /usr/bin/sum), and the MD5 digital signatures
for the above-mentioned patches that are available from:
ftp://sunsolve1.sun.com/pub/patches/patches.html
These checksums may not apply if you obtain patches from your answer
centers.
File Name BSD SVR4 MD5
- ---------------- --------- --------- --------------------------------
104795-01.tar.Z 03357 150 64333 300 3004B44BE2742A51A593DE8B76679768
104796-01.tar.Z 12042 150 18119 299 92DA0C5513E191A4C3719B3EFFB1B935
104798-01.tar.Z 40939 166 63088 332 DD89275C55397A97C4B06D1E5037723F
104797-01.tar.Z 59061 165 27937 330 BE97B2DD42A890F4E736A323E3CD8A4A
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDICES
A. Patches listed in this bulletin are available to all Sun customers via
World Wide Web at:
ftp://sunsolve1.sun.com/pub/patches/patches.html
Customers with Sun support contracts can also obtain patches from local
Sun answer centers and SunSITEs worldwide.
B. Sun security bulletins are available via World Wide Web at:
http://sunsolve1.sun.com/sunsolve/secbulletins
C. To report or inquire about a security problem with Sun software, contact
one or more of the following:
- Your local Sun answer centers
- Your representative computer security response team, such as CERT
- Sun Security Coordination Team. Send email to:
security-alert@sun.com
D. To receive information or subscribe to our CWS (Customer Warning System)
mailing list, send email to:
security-alert@sun.com
with a subject line (not body) containing one of the following commands:
Command Information Returned/Action Taken
------- ---------------------------------
help An explanation of how to get information
key Sun Security Coordination Team's PGP key
list A list of current security topics
query [topic] The email is treated as an inquiry and is forwarded to
the Security Coordination Team
report [topic] The email is treated as a security report and is
forwarded to the Security Coordinaton Team. Please
encrypt sensitive mail using Sun Security Coordination
Team's PGP key
send topic A short status summary or bulletin. For example, to
retrieve a Security Bulletin #00138, supply the
following in the subject line (not body):
send #138
subscribe Sender is added to our mailing list. To subscribe,
supply the following in the subject line (not body):
subscribe cws your-email-address
Note that your-email-address should be substituted
by your email address.
unsubscribe Sender is removed from the CWS mailing list.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- --------------------------END INCLUDED TEXT--------------------
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.3i
Charset: noconv
Comment: ftp://ftp.auscert.org.au/pub/auscert/AUSCERT_PGP.key
iQCVAwUBM7Iswyh9+71yA2DNAQFKQQP/ZyJFRhaiS9RC+tZp26uslywDz7b5FP6P
sA+sJIGV7A5XCX265CWQ4mIaR9fXRNOmN6gZgVoKUZNFLK/RQkngtErZKBi17KkE
I8qVekw8cic4L0IVBU5t8ECTUdeKBxAsm12SB3jWu3tKSVxD373nGBI8RFfdwlPq
zzsTPnmg3so=
=x1bP
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----