RHSA-2009:1651 - Security Advisory

Topic

An updated ntp package that fixes two security issues is now available for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.

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

Description

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to synchronize a computer's time
with a referenced time source.

Robin Park and Dmitri Vinokurov discovered a flaw in the way ntpd handled
certain malformed NTP packets. ntpd logged information about all such
packets and replied with an NTP packet that was treated as malformed when
received by another ntpd. A remote attacker could use this flaw to create
an NTP packet reply loop between two ntpd servers via a malformed packet
with a spoofed source IP address and port, causing ntpd on those servers to
use excessive amounts of CPU time and fill disk space with log messages.
(CVE-2009-3563)

A buffer overflow flaw was found in the ntpq diagnostic command. A
malicious, remote server could send a specially-crafted reply to an ntpq
request that could crash ntpq or, potentially, execute arbitrary code with
the privileges of the user running the ntpq command. (CVE-2009-0159)

All ntp users are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which
contains backported patches to resolve these issues. After installing the
update, the ntpd daemon will restart automatically.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

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 - 490617 - CVE-2009-0159 ntp: buffer overflow in ntpq
• BZ - 531213 - CVE-2009-3563 ntpd: DoS with mode 7 packets (VU#568372)

CVEs

• CVE-2009-0159
• CVE-2009-3563

References

• http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#moderate