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                               A D V I S O R Y

           FA-98.17
******************************************************************************
Topic: Sun Solaris Vulnerabilities (vacation, dtaction)
Source: CIAC

Creation Date: March 10, 1998
Last Updated:

To aid in the wide distribution of essential security information, FedCIRC 
is forwarding the following information from CIAC bulletin I-032. 
FedCIRC urges you to act on this information as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please contact FedCIRC:

        Telephone:      +1 888 282 0870
        Email:          fedcirc@fedcirc.gov



=======================FORWARDED TEXT STARTS HERE============================

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

             __________________________________________________________

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

                             INFORMATION BULLETIN

                Sun Solaris Vulnerabilities (vacation, dtaction)

March 10, 1998 00:00 GMT                                          Number I-032
______________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM:       Sun has identified two vulnerabilities;
               1) The vacation program that auto-responds to e-mail for absent
                  recipients.
               2) The dtaction utility which allows applications or shell
                  scripts to invoke action requests.
PLATFORM 1:    SunOS versions 5.6, 5.6_x86, 5.5.1, 5.5.1_x86, 5.5, 5.5_x86,
               5.4, 5.4_x86, 5.3, 4.1.4, and 4.1.3_U1.
PLATFORM 2:    SunOS versions 5.6, 5.6_x86, 5.5.1, 5.5.1_x86, 5.5,
               5.5_x86, 5.4, and 5.4_x86 running CDE.
DAMAGE:        1) If exploited, attackers may access the account of the user
                  running the vacation program.   
               2) If exploited, unauthorized users may gain root access.   
SOLUTION:      Apply patches listed below.                                   
______________________________________________________________________________
VULNERABILITY  CIAC recommends that the patches listed below be installed as 
ASSESSMENT:    soon as possible.                                             
______________________________________________________________________________

[ Start Sun Microsystems Bulletins ]


1) vacation program

______________________________________________________________________________
                   Sun Microsystems, Inc. Security Bulletin
               
Bulletin Number:#00163
Date:           March 4, 1998
Cross-Ref:      Secure Networks Inc.
                   Vacation Vulnerability Security Bulletin
Title:          vacation
______________________________________________________________________________

The information contained in this Security Bulletin is provided "AS IS."
Sun makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect to the information
contained in this Security Bulletin. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS,
REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF NON-INFRINGEMENT OR
IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE
HEREBY DISCLAIMED AND EXCLUDED TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

IN NO EVENT WILL SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE,
PROFIT OR DATA, OR FOR DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL
OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY
ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN
THIS SECURITY BULLETIN, EVEN IF SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF
THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

If any of the above provisions are held to be in violation of applicable law,
void, or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, then such provisions are waived
to the extent necessary for this disclaimer to be otherwise enforceable in
such jurisdiction.
______________________________________________________________________________

1.  Bulletins Topics

    Sun announces the release of patches for Solaris(tm) 2.6, 2.5.1, 2.5,
    2.4, 2.3 (SunOS(tm) 5.6, 5.5.1, 5.5, 5.4, 5.3), SunOS 4.1.4, and 4.1.3_U1
    which relate to a vulnerability in the vacation program.

    Sun recommends that you install the patches listed in section 4
    immediately on systems running SunOS 5.6, 5.5.1, 5.5, 5.4, 5.3,
    4.1.4, and 4.1.3_U1.

2.  Who is Affected
       
    Vulnerable:  SunOS versions 5.6, 5.6_x86, 5.5.1, 5.5.1_x86, 5.5, 5.5_x86,
                 5.4, 5.4_x86, 5.3, 4.1.4, and 4.1.3_U1

    Not vulnerable: All other supported versions of SunOS.
   
3.  Understanding the Vulnerability

    The vacation program automatically replies to incoming email on behalf
    of the recipient and notifies senders that the recipient is not
    currently reading the email. A vulnerability has been discovered which,
    if exploited, may allow attackers access to the account of the user
    running the vacation program.
   
4.  List of Patches

    The following patches are available in relation to the above problem.

    OS version          Patch ID
    __________          ________
    SunOS 5.6           105518-01
    SunOS 5.6_x86       105519-01
    SunOS 5.5.1         105520-01
    SunOS 5.5.1_x86     105521-01
    SunOS 5.5           105533-01
    SunOS 5.5_x86       105534-01
    SunOS 5.4           102066-21
    SunOS 5.4_x86       102064-19
    SunOS 5.3           101782-02
    SunOS 4.1.4         105466-01*
    SunOS 4.1.3_U1      105465-01*
   
    * Patches are available only for Sun's implementation of V8 sendmail.
      Sun recommends that customers using Sun's V5 sendmail upgrade to
      Sun's V8 sendmail.
     
______________________________________________________________________________
APPENDICES

A.  Patches listed in this bulletin are available to all Sun customers via
    World Wide Web at:
   
        <URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/pubpatches/patches.html>

B.  Checksums for the patches listed in this bulletin are available via
    World Wide Web at:

        <URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/pubpatches/patches.html>

C.  Sun security bulletins are available via World Wide Web at:

        <URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/secbulletins>
       
D.  Sun Security Coordination Team's PGP key is available via World Wide Web
    at:

        <URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/secbulletins/SunSCkey.txt>
                                   
E.  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

F.  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.
______________________________________________________________________________
Copyright 1998 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun,
Sun Microsystems, Solaris and SunOS are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. This
Security Bulletin may be reproduced and distributed, provided that this
Security Bulletin is not modified in any way and is attributed to
Sun Microsystems, Inc. and provided that such reproduction and distribution
is performed for non-commercial purposes.


2) dtaction utility

______________________________________________________________________________
                   Sun Microsystems, Inc. Security Bulletin
               
Bulletin Number:#00164
Date:           March 4, 1998
Cross-Ref:             
Title:          dtaction
______________________________________________________________________________

The information contained in this Security Bulletin is provided "AS IS."
Sun makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect to the information
contained in this Security Bulletin. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS,
REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF NON-INFRINGEMENT OR
IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE
HEREBY DISCLAIMED AND EXCLUDED TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

IN NO EVENT WILL SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE,
PROFIT OR DATA, OR FOR DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL
OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY
ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN
THIS SECURITY BULLETIN, EVEN IF SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF
THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

If any of the above provisions are held to be in violation of applicable law,
void, or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, then such provisions are waived
to the extent necessary for this disclaimer to be otherwise enforceable in
such jurisdiction.
______________________________________________________________________________

1.  Bulletins Topics

    Sun announces the release of patches for Solaris(tm) 2.6, 2.5.1,
    2.5, and 2.4 (SunOS(tm) 5.6, 5.5.1, 5.5, and 5.4) which relate
    to a vulnerability in dtaction.

    Sun recommends that you install the patches listed in section 4
    immediately on systems running SunOS 5.6, 5.5.1, 5.5, and 5.4
    with the Common Desktop Environment (CDE).

2.  Who is Affected
       
    Vulnerable:  SunOS versions 5.6, 5.6_x86, 5.5.1, 5.5.1_x86, 5.5,
                 5.5_x86, 5.4, and 5.4_x86 running CDE

    Not vulnerable: All other supported versions of SunOS.
   
3.  Understanding the Vulnerability

    The dtaction utility allows applications or shell scripts, which are
    otherwise not connected into the CDE development environment, to invoke
    action requests. Due to insufficient bounds checking on arguments supplied
    to dtaction, it is possible to overwrite the internal stack space of
    dtaction. As dtaction is setuid root, this vulnerability may be exploited
    to gain root access.
   
4.  List of Patches

    The following patches are available in relation to the above problem.

    CDE version         Patch ID
    ___________         ________
  
    1.2                 105669-02
    1.2_x86             105670-02
    1.02                105716-02
    1.02_x86            105717-02
    1.01                105714-02
    1.01_x86            105715-02
   
______________________________________________________________________________
APPENDICES

A.  Patches listed in this bulletin are available to all Sun customers via
    World Wide Web at:
   
        <URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/pubpatches/patches.html>

B.  Checksums for the patches listed in this bulletin are available via
    World Wide Web at:

        <URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/pubpatches/patches.html>

C.  Sun security bulletins are available via World Wide Web at:

        <URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/secbulletins>
       
D.  Sun Security Coordination Team's PGP key is available via World Wide Web
    at:

        <URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/secbulletins/SunSCkey.txt>
                                   
E.  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

F.  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.
______________________________________________________________________________

Copyright 1998 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun,
Sun Microsystems, Solaris and SunOS are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. This
Security Bulletin may be reproduced and distributed, provided that this
Security Bulletin is not modified in any way and is attributed to
Sun Microsystems, Inc. and provided that such reproduction and distribution
is performed for non-commercial purposes.


[ End Sun Microsystems Bulletins ]

______________________________________________________________________________

CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Sun Microsystems 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
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For emergencies and off-hour assistance, DOE, DOE contractor sites,
and the NIH may contact CIAC 24-hours a day. During off hours (5PM -
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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)

I-022: IBM AIX "routed" daemon Vulnerability
I-023: Macro Virus Update
I-024: CGI Security Hole in EWS1.1 Vulnerability
I-025a: Windows NT based Web Servers File Access Vulnerability
I-026: Vulnerability in ssh-agent
I-027b: HP-UX Vulnerabilities (CUE, CDE, land)
I-028: Vulnerabilities in CDE
I-029: IBM AIX Telnet Denial-of-Service Vulnerability
I-030: SunOS volrmmount (1) Vulnerability
I-031a: WindowsNT-95 Attacks on DOE Sites



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========================FORWARDED TEXT ENDS HERE=============================

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has
established a Federal Computer Incident response Capability (FedCIRC)
to assist federal civilians agencies in their incident handling
efforts by providing proactive and reactive computer security related
services.  FedCIRC is a partnership among NIST, the Computer Incident
Advisory Capability (CIAC), and the CERT* Coordination Center
(CERT/CC). 

If you believe that your system has been compromised, please contact
FedCIRC: 

        Telephone:      +1 888 282 0870
        Email:          fedcirc@fedcirc.gov
        Web Server:     http://www.fedcirc.gov/

* Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
 
The CERT Coordination Center is part of the Software Engineering
Institute.  The Software Engineering Institute is sponsored by the
U.S. Department of Defense.

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.
 
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.