CVE-2008-5006
Description
From CVE.org
smtp.c in the c-client library in University of Washington IMAP Toolkit 2007b allows remote SMTP servers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) by responding to the QUIT command with a close of the TCP connection instead of the expected 221 response code.
Statement
The affected code is not used by any application shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, 3, 4, and 5. The impact of this flaw is limited to a crash of the applications connecting to a misbehaving SMTP server. Due to those reasons, theres currently no plan to include the fix in the imap packages as shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 and 3, and the libc-client packages as shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
NULL pointer dereferences usually result in the failure of the process unless exception handling (on some platforms) is available and implemented. Even when exception handling is being used, it can still be very difficult to return the software to a safe state of operation.
Integrity,Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Read Memory; Modify Memory
In rare circumstances, when NULL is equivalent to the 0x0 memory address and privileged code can access it, then writing or reading memory is possible, which may lead to code execution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
