RHSA-2004:119 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated OpenSSL packages that fix a remote denial of service vulnerability
are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1.

Description

OpenSSL is a toolkit that implements Secure Sockets Layer (SSL v2/v3) and
Transport Layer Security (TLS v1) protocols as well as a full-strength
general purpose cryptography library.

Testing performed by the OpenSSL group using the Codenomicon TLS Test Tool
uncovered a bug in older versions of OpenSSL 0.9.6 prior to 0.9.6d that can
lead to a denial of service attack (infinite loop). The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2004-0081 to this issue.

Testing performed by Novell using a test suite provided by NISCC uncovered
an issue in the ASN.1 parser in versions of OpenSSL 0.9.6 prior to 0.9.6l
which could cause large recursion and possibly lead to a denial of service
attack if used where stack space is limited. The Common Vulnerabilities
and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0851
to this issue.

These updated packages contain patches provided by the OpenSSL group that
protect against these issues.

NOTE: Because server applications are affected by this issue, users are
advised to either restart all services using OpenSSL functionality or
restart their system after installing these updated packages.

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 - 117771 - CAN-2004-0081 OpenSSL flaw

CVEs

• CVE-2004-0081
• CVE-2003-0851

References

(none)