RHSA-2003:197 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated Xpdf packages are available that fix a vulnerability where a
malicious PDF document could run arbitrary code.

[Updated 21 July 2003]
Updated packages are now available, as the original errata packages did not
fix all possible ways of exploiting this vulnerability.

Description

Xpdf is an X Window System based viewer for Portable Document Format
(PDF) files.

Martyn Gilmore discovered a flaw in various PDF viewers and readers. An
attacker can embed malicious external-type hyperlinks that if activated or
followed by a victim can execute arbitrary shell commands. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has
assigned the name CAN-2003-0434 to this issue.

All users of Xpdf are advised to upgrade to these errata packages, which
contain a patch correcting this issue.

Solution

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

To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:

rpm -Fvh [filenames]

where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade. Only those
RPMs which are currently installed will be updated. Those RPMs which are
not installed but included in the list will not be updated. Note that you
can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the
desired RPMs.

Please note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network. Many
people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 98981 - CAN-2003-0434 xpdf updates insufficient

CVEs

• CVE-2003-0434

References

(none)