RHSA-2010:0788 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated pidgin packages that fix multiple security issues are now available
for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderate
security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores,
which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability
from the CVE links in the References section.

Description

Pidgin is an instant messaging program which can log in to multiple
accounts on multiple instant messaging networks simultaneously.

Multiple NULL pointer dereference flaws were found in the way Pidgin
handled Base64 decoding. A remote attacker could use these flaws to crash
Pidgin if the target Pidgin user was using the Yahoo! Messenger Protocol,
MSN, MySpace, or Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) protocol
plug-ins, or using the Microsoft NT LAN Manager (NTLM) protocol for
authentication. (CVE-2010-3711)

A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the way the Pidgin MSN
protocol plug-in processed custom emoticon messages. A remote attacker
could use this flaw to crash Pidgin by sending specially-crafted emoticon
messages during mutual communication. (CVE-2010-1624)

Red Hat would like to thank the Pidgin project for reporting these issues.
Upstream acknowledges Daniel Atallah as the original reporter of
CVE-2010-3711, and Pierre Nogues of Meta Security as the original reporter
of CVE-2010-1624.

All Pidgin users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain
backported patches to resolve these issues. Pidgin must be restarted for
this update to take effect.

Solution

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

This update is available via the 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 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.8 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.8 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.8 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 4.8 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 589973 - CVE-2010-1624 Pidgin: MSN SLP emoticon DoS (NULL pointer dereference)
• BZ - 641921 - CVE-2010-3711 Pidgin (libpurple): Multiple DoS (crash) flaws by processing of unsanitized Base64 decoder values

CVEs

• CVE-2010-3711
• CVE-2010-1624

References

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