Synopsis

gaim security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Critical

Topic

Updated Gaim packages that fix a pair of security 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. Many of these bugs do not affect the version
of Gaim distributed with version 2.1 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

A buffer overflow exists in the HTTP Proxy connect code. If Gaim is
configured to use an HTTP proxy for connecting to a server, a malicious
HTTP proxy could run arbitrary code as the user running Gaim. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2004-0006 to this issue.

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

Users of Gaim should upgrade to these erratum packages, which contain
a backported security patch correcting this issue.

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

CVEs

• CVE-2004-0008
• CVE-2004-0006

References

(none)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2

SRPM
ia64
i386

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2

SRPM
ia64
i386