RHSA-2004:009 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated elm packages are now available that fix a buffer overflow
vulnerability in the 'frm' command.

Description

Elm is a terminal mode email user agent. The frm command is provided as
part of the Elm packages and gives a summary list of the sender and subject
of selected messages in a mailbox or folder.

A buffer overflow vulnerability was found in the frm command. An attacker
could create a message with an overly long Subject line such that when the
frm command is run by a victim arbitrary code is executed. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2003-0966 to this issue.

Users of the frm command should update to these erratum packages, which
contain a backported security patch that corrects this issue.

Red Hat would like to thank Paul Rubin for discovering and disclosing 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.

If up2date fails to connect to Red Hat Network due to SSL
Certificate Errors, you need to install a version of the
up2date client with an updated certificate. The latest version of
up2date is available from the Red Hat FTP site and may also be
downloaded directly from the RHN website:

https://rhn.redhat.com/help/latest-up2date.pxt

Affected Products

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

Fixes

• BZ - 112078 - CAN-2003-0966 buffer overflow in frm command

CVEs

• CVE-2003-0966

References

(none)