e-30.ciac-Majordomo-vuln
573b21be6f0ae531b2b5e90448917f4c4edd75d3c01f6bccf38440a6c9eb9e4a
_____________________________________________________
The U.S. Department of Energy
Computer Incident Advisory Capability
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INFORMATION BULLETIN
Majordomo distribution list administrator vulnerabilities
June 15, 1994 1400 PDT Number E-30
______________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM: Two vulnerabilities in Majordomo distribution list
administrator.
PLATFORMS: All unix systems using Majordomo versions 1.91 and earlier.
DAMAGE: Remote users may gain access to the Majordomo account.
SOLUTION: Upgrade to Majordomo 1.92 or apply quick fix described below.
______________________________________________________________________________
VULNERABILITY This vulnerability is being discussed on public mailing lists
ASSESSMENT: and is currently being exploited. CIAC recommends that sites
determine if they are using Majordomo for their distribution
lists, and, if so, follow the steps described below.
______________________________________________________________________________
Critical Information about the Majordomo distribution list administrator
vulnerabilities
CIAC has learned of two vulnerabilities in the Majordomo distribution list
administrator software. These allow intruders to gain remote access to the
Majordomo account and execute arbitrary commands. Exploitation does not
require a valid username/password combination and bypasses firewalls and
TCP wrappers. This vulnerability affects all versions of Majordomo up to
and including version 1.91. It does not affect users of Majordomo (i.e.,
subscribers), nor hosts using other distribution list managers. CIAC
recommends that sites determine if they are running Majordomo. If so,
upgrade to version 1.92. If the associated mailer is sendmail and upgrading
immediately is not possible, then, as an interim solution, follow the
instructions for the quick fix in 2 below.
1. Upgrading to Majordomo 1.92
Obtain Majordomo 1.92 via anonymous ftp in the indicated directory on any
one of the following servers:
ftp.pgh.net:/pub/majordomo/majordomo-1.92.tar.Z
ftp.cs.umb.edu:/pub/rouilj/majordomo-1.92.tar.Z
FTP.GreatCircle.COM:/pub/majordomo/majordomo-1.92.tar.Z
Follow the installation instructions in the included main README file. Note
that the compressed file should have the following checksum and signature.
BSD SVR4
File Checksum Checksum MD5 Digital Signature
____________________ _________ _________ ________________________________
majordomo-1.92.tar.Z 55701 223 23408 446 17d9bb9fd4872ab09d01bfeb643b5ebb
If your copy computes differently, contact the ftp site or CIAC before
proceeding.
2. Quick fix for versions 1.91 and earlier that use the sendmail mailer (this
fix is not supported for other mailers). For version 1.91, perform the first
step only. For version 1.90 and earlier, perform both steps.
Versions 1.91 and earlier:
Disable new-list by either renaming or removing it from the aliases file.
Versions 1.90 and earlier:
Find all occurrences of strings of any the following forms:
"|/usr/lib/sendmail -f<whatever> $to" #majordomo.pl
"|/usr/lib/sendmail -f<whatever> $reply_to" #request-answer
"|/usr/lib/sendmail -f<whatever> $reply_to $list-approval" # new-list
"|/usr/lib/sendmail -f<whatever> \$to" #majordomo.cf
Change all occurrences of that string to
"|/usr/lib/sendmail -f<whatever> -t"
You should find these strings in the request-answer, majordomo.pl, and your
local majordomo.cf files.
______________________________________________________________________________
CIAC acknowledges the CERT Coordination Center and John Rouillard of the
University of Massachusetts at Boston for providing the information for
this bulletin.
______________________________________________________________________________
For additional information or assistance, please contact CIAC:
Voice: 510-422-8193
FAX: 510-423-8002
STU-III: 510-423-2604
E-mail: ciac@llnl.gov
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You will receive an acknowledgment containing address, initial PIN, and
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help.
______________________________________________________________________________
PLEASE NOTE: Many users outside of the DOE and ESnet 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
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This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the
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University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty,
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