RHSA-2013:0131 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated gnome-vfs2 packages that fix one security issue and several bugs
are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having low
security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score,
which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in
the References section.

Description

The gnome-vfs2 packages provide the GNOME Virtual File System, which is the
foundation of the Nautilus file manager. neon is an HTTP and WebDAV client
library embedded in the gnome-vfs2 packages.

A denial of service flaw was found in the neon Extensible Markup Language
(XML) parser. Visiting a malicious DAV server with an application using
gnome-vfs2 (such as Nautilus) could possibly cause the application to
consume an excessive amount of CPU and memory. (CVE-2009-2473)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• When extracted from the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), gnome-vfs2

returned escaped file paths. If a path, as stored in the URI,
contained non-ASCII characters or ASCII characters which are parsed as
something other than a file path (for example, spaces), the escaped path
was inaccurate. Consequently, files with the described type of URI could
not be processed. With this update, gnome-vfs2 properly unescapes paths
that are required for a system call. As a result, these paths are parsed
properly. (BZ#580855)

• In certain cases, the trash info file was populated by foreign

entries, pointing to live data. Emptying the trash caused an accidental
deletion of valuable data. With this update, a workaround has been applied
in order to prevent the deletion. As a result, the accidental data loss is
prevented, however further information is still gathered to fully fix this
problem. (BZ#586015)

• Due to a wrong test checking for a destination file system, the Nautilus

file manager failed to delete a symbolic link to a folder which was
residing in another file system. With this update, a special test has been
added. As a result, a symbolic link pointing to another file system can be
trashed or deleted properly. (BZ#621394)

• Prior to this update, when directories without a read permission were

marked for copy, the Nautilus file manager skipped these unreadable
directories without notification. With this update, Nautilus displays an
error message and properly informs the user about the aforementioned
problem. (BZ#772307)

• Previously, gnome-vfs2 used the stat() function calls for every file on

the MultiVersion File System (MVFS), used for example by IBM Rational
ClearCase. This behavior significantly slowed down file operations. With
this update, the unnecessary stat() operations have been limited. As a
result, gnome-vfs2 user interfaces, such as Nautilus, are more responsive.
(BZ#822817)

All gnome-vfs2 users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages,
which contain backported patches to correct these issues.

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
https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 518215 - CVE-2009-2473 neon: billion laughs DoS attack
• BZ - 580855 - Cannot delete folder contents if the name of the folder contains spaces
• BZ - 621394 - can't delete symlink to other filesystem
• BZ - 822817 - Fix Gnome VFS components to not stat every file on an ClearCase mvfs filesystem
• BZ - 848822 - Problem while loading OAFIID: GNOME_Panel_TrashApplet

CVEs

• CVE-2009-2473

References

• https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#low