RHSA-2005:044 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated XFree86 packages that fix a libXpm integer overflow flaw and a
number of bugs are now available.

This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat
Security Response Team.

Description

XFree86 is an open source implementation of the X Window System. It
provides the basic low level functionality which full-fledged graphical
user interfaces (GUIs) such as GNOME and KDE are designed upon.

An integer overflow flaw was found in libXpm, which is used by some
applications for loading of XPM images. An attacker could create a
malicious XPM file that would execute arbitrary code if opened by a victim
using an application linked to the vulnerable library. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2005-0605 to this issue.

XFree86 4.1.0 was not functional on systems that did not have a legacy
keyboard controller (8042). During startup, the X server would attempt to
update registers on the 8042 controller, but if that chip was not present,
the X server would hang during startup. This new release has a workaround
so that the access to those registers time out if they are not present.

A bug in libXaw could cause applications to segfault on 64-bit systems
under certain circumstances. This has been fixed with a patch backported
from XFree86 4.3.0.

Xlib contained a memory leak caused by double allocation, which has been
fixed in XFree86 4.3.0 using backported patch.

All users of XFree86 should upgrade to these updated packages, which
resolve these issues.

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 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 - 150038 - CAN-2005-0605 XPM buffer overflow

CVEs

• CVE-2005-0605

References

(none)