__________________________________________________________

                       The U.S. Department of Energy
                    Computer Incident Advisory Capability
                           ___  __ __    _     ___
                          /       |     /_\   /
                          \___  __|__  /   \  \___
             __________________________________________________________

                             INFORMATION BULLETIN

                 Digital OSF/1 dxconsole Security Vulnerability

April 10, 1996 19:00 GMT                                           Number G-18
______________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM:       A problem with Digital dxconsole. 
PLATFORM:      Digital OSF/1 V2.0 thru V3.2C 
DAMAGE:        The vulnerability may allow authorized users to gain 
               unauthorized privileges. 
SOLUTION:      Install proper kits containing new images. 
______________________________________________________________________________
VULNERABILITY  Knowledge of how to exploit this vulnerability is becoming 
ASSESSMENT:    widely known. 
______________________________________________________________________________

CIAC has obtained information from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
pertaining to the vulnerability with dxconsole. CIAC recommends that 
you install the proper kits containing the new images.

[ Start of DEC Bulletin ]
______________________________________________________________________________

Copyright (c) Digital Equipment Corporation 1996.
All rights reserved.

TITLE:      SSRT0358_OSF1032C Digital OSF/1 V2.0 thru 3.2C dxconsole
SOURCE:     Digital Equipment Corporation
            Software Security Response Team
______________________________________________________________________________

PROBLEM:
--------
Digital recently discovered a potential security vulnerability with
dxconsole for OSF/1 V2.0 thru V3.2C. This potential vulnerability may 
allow authorized users to gain unauthorized privileges. 

Digital has corrected this potential vulnerability and provided
kits containing new images. The appropriate kits and images are
identified below.

APPLICABILITY:
--------------
Digital Equipment Corporation strongly urges Customers to upgrade
to a minimum of DEC OSF/1 V3.0 then apply the Security patch.

ECO INFORMATION:
----------------
     ECO Kit Name:  SSRT0358_OSF1032C
     ECO Kits Superseded by This ECO Kit:  None
     ECO Kit Approximate Size:  ssrt0358_osf1032C.tar_Z 76571 Bytes

     System Reboot Necessary:  Yes

  __________________________________________________________________
  These kits will not install on versions previous to DEC OSF/1 V2.0
  __________________________________________________________________


AVAILABILITY:
-------------
Software service contract or warranty customers can obtain the kits through
normal Digital support channels via AES (Advanced Electronic Service) 
or from the appropriate version directory listed by accessing:

                ftp://ftp.service.digital.com/public/osf

Please refer to the applicable Release Note information prior to
upgrading your installation.

   Note: Non-contract/non-warranty customers should contact 
         local Digital support channels for information 
         regarding these kits.



As always, Digital urges you to periodically review your system
management and security procedures. Digital will continue to review
and enhance the security features of its products and work
with customers to maintain and improve the security and integrity
of their systems.
                                      - DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION

[ End of DEC Bulletin ]
_______________________________________________________________________________

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
National Institute 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. CIAC-BULLETIN for Advisories, highest priority - time critical information
   and Bulletins, important computer security information;
2. CIAC-NOTES for Notes, a collection of computer security articles;
3. SPI-ANNOUNCE for official news about Security Profile Inspector (SPI)
   software updates, new features, distribution and availability;
4. SPI-NOTES, for discussion of problems and solutions regarding the use of
   SPI products.
 
Our mailing lists are managed by a public domain software package called
ListProcessor, which ignores E-mail header subject lines. 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 by sending email to 
docserver@first.org with an empty subject line and a message body containingt
the line: send first-contacts.
 
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.
 
LAST 10 CIAC BULLETINS ISSUED (Previous bulletins available from CIAC)
 
(G-8)   splitvt(1) Vulnerability
(G-9b)  Unix sendmail Vulnerability
(G-10a) Winword Macro Viruses
(G-11)  HP Syslog Vulnerability
(G-12)  SGI ATT Packaging Utility Security Vulnerability
(G-13)  Kerberos Version 4 Key Server Vulnerability
(G-14)  Domain Name Service Vulnerabilities
(G-15)  Sunsoft Demo CD Vulnerability
(G-16)  SGI rpc.statd Program Security Vulnerabilities
(G-17)  Vulnerabilities in Sample HTTPD CGIs
 
RECENT CIAC NOTES ISSUED (Previous Notes available from CIAC)

Notes 07 - 3/29/95   A comprehensive review of SATAN
 
Notes 08 - 4/4/95    A Courtney update
 
Notes 09 - 4/24/95   More on the "Good Times" virus urban legend
 
Notes 10 - 6/16/95   PKZ300B Trojan, Logdaemon/FreeBSD, vulnerability
                     in S/Key, EBOLA Virus Hoax, and Caibua Virus
 
Notes 11 - 7/31/95   Virus Update, Hats Off to Administrators,
                     America On-Line Virus Scare, SPI 3.2.2 Released,
                     The Die_Hard Virus
 
Notes 12 - 9/12/95   Securely configuring Public Telnet Services, X Windows,
                     beta release of Merlin, Microsoft Word Macro Viruses,
                     Allegations of Inappropriate Data Collection in Win95
 
Notes 96-01 - 3/18/96  Java and JavaScript Vulnerabilities, the FIRST 
      Conference, Word Macros Virus updates, and Web 
      Search engines