Synopsis

Low: xinetd security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Low

Topic

An updated xinetd package that fixes one security issue and two bugs is now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

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 xinetd package provides a secure replacement for inetd, the Internet
services daemon. xinetd provides access control for all services based on
the address of the remote host and/or on time of access, and can prevent
denial-of-access attacks.

When xinetd services are configured with the "TCPMUX" or "TCPMUXPLUS" type,
and the tcpmux-server service is enabled, those services are accessible via
port 1. It was found that enabling the tcpmux-server service (it is
disabled by default) allowed every xinetd service, including those that are
not configured with the "TCPMUX" or "TCPMUXPLUS" type, to be accessible via
port 1. This could allow a remote attacker to bypass intended firewall
restrictions. (CVE-2012-0862)

Red Hat would like to thank Thomas Swan of FedEx for reporting this issue.

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• Prior to this update, a file descriptor array in the service.c source
  file was not handled as expected. As a consequence, some of the descriptors
  remained open when xinetd was under heavy load. Additionally, the system
  log was filled with a large number of messages that took up a lot of disk
  space over time. This update modifies the xinetd code to handle the file
  descriptors correctly and messages no longer fill the system log.
  (BZ#790036)
  
• Prior to this update, services were disabled permanently when their CPS
  limit was reached. As a consequence, a failed bind operation could occur
  when xinetd attempted to restart the service. This update adds additional
  logic that attempts to restart the service. Now, the service is only
  disabled if xinetd cannot restart the service after 30 attempts.
  (BZ#809271)
  

All users of xinetd are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which
contains 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 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 790036 - xinetd leaking file descriptors
• BZ - 790940 - CVE-2012-0862 xinetd: enables unintentional services over tcpmux port

CVEs

• CVE-2012-0862

References

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

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6

SRPM
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.src.rpm	SHA-256: e4ad00053f8f8756ab2771954dc5bc4fae54ba639f855f9d2e98410087e5b710
x86_64
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 375c25bb4d6607a1ef166379a0350cdc6753f137901965503b0f1a8ab45ecde8
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: b0853df8e8cf60a732b205250ec998f43dbac26b015363dd40c87f37a26f932d
i386
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.i686.rpm	SHA-256: 392f4439a9a15eaa8f7b4f6afd5cd6295fb65ac46faf97f2d7a3bafc1523ef70
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.i686.rpm	SHA-256: 732a58d162184d8a5e564e5472da44fc309275cd1397d1f32b12bd055d94c0ac

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6

SRPM
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.src.rpm	SHA-256: e4ad00053f8f8756ab2771954dc5bc4fae54ba639f855f9d2e98410087e5b710
x86_64
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 375c25bb4d6607a1ef166379a0350cdc6753f137901965503b0f1a8ab45ecde8
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: b0853df8e8cf60a732b205250ec998f43dbac26b015363dd40c87f37a26f932d
i386
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.i686.rpm	SHA-256: 392f4439a9a15eaa8f7b4f6afd5cd6295fb65ac46faf97f2d7a3bafc1523ef70
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.i686.rpm	SHA-256: 732a58d162184d8a5e564e5472da44fc309275cd1397d1f32b12bd055d94c0ac

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6

SRPM
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.src.rpm	SHA-256: e4ad00053f8f8756ab2771954dc5bc4fae54ba639f855f9d2e98410087e5b710
x86_64
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 375c25bb4d6607a1ef166379a0350cdc6753f137901965503b0f1a8ab45ecde8
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: b0853df8e8cf60a732b205250ec998f43dbac26b015363dd40c87f37a26f932d
i386
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.i686.rpm	SHA-256: 392f4439a9a15eaa8f7b4f6afd5cd6295fb65ac46faf97f2d7a3bafc1523ef70
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.i686.rpm	SHA-256: 732a58d162184d8a5e564e5472da44fc309275cd1397d1f32b12bd055d94c0ac

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6

SRPM
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.src.rpm	SHA-256: e4ad00053f8f8756ab2771954dc5bc4fae54ba639f855f9d2e98410087e5b710
s390x
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.s390x.rpm	SHA-256: 276d8b0e42a31bdd0d4a8987e7150fda12aa40ab248770068ccbe7d40209ca44
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.s390x.rpm	SHA-256: 8ab1c7b686795b8d655cea68458bc59489cceb73ed760c6dfa4cf8f3227ca773

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6

SRPM
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.src.rpm	SHA-256: e4ad00053f8f8756ab2771954dc5bc4fae54ba639f855f9d2e98410087e5b710
ppc64
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.ppc64.rpm	SHA-256: 8ef86871771c2ad03097a0d10e0b518f5a95b66df92a977146e3f123ab80c71e
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.ppc64.rpm	SHA-256: aae3bfe4ef33df913bff8b40a50e1bcb533f7bd9771def7e9c99f90cc4616ed7

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6

SRPM
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.src.rpm	SHA-256: e4ad00053f8f8756ab2771954dc5bc4fae54ba639f855f9d2e98410087e5b710
x86_64
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 375c25bb4d6607a1ef166379a0350cdc6753f137901965503b0f1a8ab45ecde8
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: b0853df8e8cf60a732b205250ec998f43dbac26b015363dd40c87f37a26f932d

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6

SRPM
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.src.rpm	SHA-256: e4ad00053f8f8756ab2771954dc5bc4fae54ba639f855f9d2e98410087e5b710
x86_64
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 375c25bb4d6607a1ef166379a0350cdc6753f137901965503b0f1a8ab45ecde8
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: b0853df8e8cf60a732b205250ec998f43dbac26b015363dd40c87f37a26f932d
i386
xinetd-2.3.14-38.el6.i686.rpm	SHA-256: 392f4439a9a15eaa8f7b4f6afd5cd6295fb65ac46faf97f2d7a3bafc1523ef70
xinetd-debuginfo-2.3.14-38.el6.i686.rpm	SHA-256: 732a58d162184d8a5e564e5472da44fc309275cd1397d1f32b12bd055d94c0ac