RHSA-2004:033 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated Gaim packages that fix a number of serious vulnerabilities are now
available.

Description

Gaim is an instant messenger client that can handle multiple protocols.

Stefan Esser audited the Gaim source code and found a number of bugs that
have security implications. Due to the nature of instant messaging many of
these bugs require man-in-the-middle attacks between client and server.
However at least one of the buffer overflows could be exploited by an
attacker sending a carefully-constructed malicious message through a server.

The issues include:

Multiple buffer overflows that affect versions of Gaim 0.75 and earlier.
1) When parsing cookies in a Yahoo web connection, 2) YMSG protocol
overflows parsing the Yahoo login webpage, 3) a YMSG packet overflow, 4)
flaws in the URL parser, and 5) flaws in HTTP Proxy connect. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2004-0006 to these issues.

A buffer overflow in Gaim 0.74 and earlier in the Extract Info
Field Function used for MSN and YMSG protocol handlers. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has
assigned the name CAN-2004-0007 to this issue.

An integer overflow in Gaim 0.74 and earlier, when allocating
memory for a directIM packet results in heap overflow.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has
assigned the name CAN-2004-0008 to this issue.

All users of Gaim should upgrade to these erratum packages, which contain
backported security patches correcting these issues.

Red Hat would like to thank Steffan Esser for finding and reporting these
issues and Jacques A. Vidrine for providing initial patches.

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 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 3 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 113844 - CAN-2004-0006/7/8 Multiple vulnerabilities in Gaim

CVEs

• CVE-2004-0006
• CVE-2004-0008
• CVE-2004-0007

References

(none)