Red Hat Product Errata RHSA-2004:090 - Security Advisory
Issued:
2004-02-26
Updated:
2004-02-26

RHSA-2004:090 - Security Advisory

Synopsis

libxml2 security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Moderate

Topic

Updated libxml2 packages that fix an overflow when parsing remote resources
are now available.

Description

libxml2 is a library for manipulating XML files.

Yuuichi Teranishi discovered a flaw in libxml2 versions prior to 2.6.6.
When fetching a remote resource via FTP or HTTP, libxml2 uses special
parsing routines. These routines can overflow a buffer if passed a very
long URL. If an attacker is able to find an application using libxml2 that
parses remote resources and allows them to influence the URL, then this
flaw could be used to execute arbitrary code. The Common Vulnerabilities
and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2004-0110
to this issue.

All users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a
backported fix and are not vulnerable to 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 3 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 ia64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 i386
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 ia64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 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 Workstation 2 ia64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 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

(none)

The Red Hat security contact is secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.