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________________________________________________________________________________
        Sun Microsystems, Inc. Security Bulletin
     
Bulletin Number:  #00196
Date:       August 07, 2000
Cross-Ref:    S21SEC-004
Title:      AnswerBook2  
________________________________________________________________________________

The information contained in this Security Bulletin is provided "AS IS." 
Sun makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect to the information 
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such jurisdiction.
________________________________________________________________________________

1.  Bulletins Topics

    Sun announces the release of a new version of AnswerBook2 and patches
    which relate to security flaws in the http server included with 
    AnswerBook2.

    Sun recommends that you follow the directions in section 4 to
    upgrade your AnswerBook2 server and install the listed patch 
    immediately on all systems running AnswerBook2.

2.  Who is Affected
  
    AnswerBook2:
    
  Vulnerable:    Any systems running a version of AnswerBook2 
                                before 1.4.2.
        Answerbook2 version 1.4.2 without the 
        appropriate patch listed below.
      Not vulnerable:    All systems not running AnswerBook2.
      

3.  Understanding the Vulnerability

    Sun Solaris(tm) AnswerBook2 ships with an HTTP server (dwhttpd) 
    that allows users to access Solaris documentation using a web browser. 

    A vulnerability exists that allows a malicious user to access the 
    administration of AnswerBook2 as well as the ability to run arbitrary
    commands on the remote host as the webserver user (daemon).


4.  Corrective Action

    Two steps are required to protect against these vulnerabilities.

    Step 1)  Update AnswerBook2 to the latest version (at least version 1.4.2)
    The latest version of AnswerBook2 can be dowloaded from:

    http://www.sun.com/software/ab2/dwnld_versions.html

    Step 2)  Install the AnswerBook2 patch
   
    Answerbook2 Version    Patch ID        
    __________      _________
    1.4.2      110011-02    
    1.4.2_x86      110012-02    
   
_______________________________________________________________________________    
Sun acknowledges, with thanks, Lluis Mora from S21SEC for bringing 
this vulnerability to our attention.
_______________________________________________________________________________
APPENDICES

A.  Patches listed in this bulletin are available to all Sun customers at:
    
    http://sunsolve.sun.com/securitypatch
    
B.  Checksums for the patches listed in this bulletin are available at:

    ftp://sunsolve.sun.com/pub/patches/CHECKSUMS

C.  Sun security bulletins are available at:

    http://sunsolve.sun.com/security
  
D.  Sun Security Coordination Team's PGP key is available at:

    http://sunsolve.sun.com/pgpkey.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) 
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________________________________________________________________________________

Copyright 2000 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 
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