Red Hat Product Errata RHSA-2004:604 - Security Advisory
Issued:
2004-10-20
Updated:
2004-10-20

RHSA-2004:604 - Security Advisory

Synopsis

gaim security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

An updated gaim package that fixes security issues, fixes various bugs, and
includes various enhancements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 is now avaliable.

Description

The gaim application is a multi-protocol instant messaging client.

A buffer overflow has been discovered in the MSN protocol handler. When
receiving unexpected sequence of MSNSLP messages, it is possible that an
attacker could cause an internal buffer overflow, leading to a crash or
possible code execution. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project
(cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2004-0891 to this issue.

This updated gaim package also fixes multiple user interface, protocol, and
error handling problems, including an ICQ communication encoding issue.

Additionally, these updated packages have compiled gaim as a PIE (position
independent executable) for added protection against future security
vulnerabilities.

All users of gaim should upgrade to this updated package, which includes
various bug fixes, as well as a backported security patch.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied. Use Red Hat
Network to download and update your packages. To launch the Red Hat
Update Agent, use the following command:

up2date

For information on how to install packages manually, refer to the
following Web page for the System Administration or Customization
guide specific to your system:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

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 Desktop 3 x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 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 - 135678 - CAN-2004-0891 MSN protocol buffer overflow.

References

(none)

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