RHBA-2013:1318 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated nss packages that fix several bugs and add one enhancement are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Description

Network Security Services (NSS) is a set of libraries designed to support the
cross-platform development of security-enabled client and server applications.
Netscape Portable Runtime (NSPR) provides platform independence for non-GUI
operating system facilities.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• A lack-of-robustness flaw caused the administration server for Red Hat

Directory Server to terminate unexpectedly because the mod_nss module made nss
calls before initializing nss as per the documented API. With this update, nss
protects itself against being called before it has been properly initialized by
the caller. (BZ#784676)

• Previously, output of the certutil -H command, which is a list of options and

arguments used by the certutil tool, did not describe the -F option. This
information has been added and the -F option is now properly described in the
output of certutil -H. (BZ#807419)

• Due to a bug in the FreeBL library, the Openswan application could generate a

Key Exchange payload that was one byte shorter than what was required by the
Diffie Hellman (DH) protocol. Consequently, Openswan dropped connections during
such payloads. With this update, the DH key derivation function in FreeBL has
been fixed and connections are no longer dropped by Openswan. (BZ#855809)

• Previously, the remote-viewer utility failed to utilize a plugged-in smart

card reader when a Spice client was running. Eventually, the client could
terminate unexpectedly. Now, remote-viewer recognizes the reader and offers
authentication once the card is inserted, and the crashes no longer occur.
(BZ#975600)

• With this update, NSS has incorporated various GCM code fixes applied upstream

since nss-3.14.3 was released. (BZ#987131)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancement:

• With this update, NSS's own internal cryptographic module now supports the

NIST Suite B set of recommended algorithms for Elliptic Curve Cryptography.
(BZ#960241)

Users of NSS and NSPR are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which
fix these issues and add this enhancement. After installing this update,
applications using NSS or NSPR must be restarted for this update to take effect.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to
use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 737704 - Fix spec file test script typo and enable running the test suites
• BZ - 784676 - nss should protect against being called before nss_Init
• BZ - 807419 - nss-tools certutil -H does not list all options
• BZ - 883788 - [RFE] [RHEL5] Rebase to NSS >= 3.13.6
• BZ - 918948 - [RFE][RHEL5] Rebase to nss-3.14.3 to fix the lucky-13 issue
• BZ - 960241 - Enable ECC in nss and freebl [rhel-5.10.0]
• BZ - 975600 - remote-viewer does not utilize smart card reader plugged when the client is running
• BZ - 983766 - nssutil_ReadSecmodDB() leaks memory
• BZ - 987131 - Pick up various upstream GCM code fixes applied since nss-3.14.3 was released

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)