__________________________________________________________ The U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability ___ __ __ _ ___ / | /_\ / \___ __|__ / \ \___ __________________________________________________________ INFORMATION BULLETIN IRIX WorkShop cvconnect(1M) Vulnerability June 26, 2000 18:00 GMT Number K-056 ______________________________________________________________________________ PROBLEM: Silicon Graphics has identified a vulnerability in cvconnect(1M) which can be invoked by WorkShop. PLATFORM: WorkShop versions 2.6.* and lower DAMAGE: This vulnerability can be exploited locally and remotely to overwrite any file on the system. SOLUTION: Apply patches or workaround. ______________________________________________________________________________ VULNERABILITY Risk is High. The cvconnect(1M) vulnerability has been publicly ASSESSMENT: discussed in Usenet newsgroups and mailing lists. ______________________________________________________________________________ [ Start Silicon Graphics Inc. Advisory ] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ______________________________________________________________________________ Silicon Graphics Inc. Security Advisory Title: IRIX WorkShop cvconnect(1M) Vulnerability Number: 20000601-01-P Date: June 20, 2000 ______________________________________________________________________________ Silicon Graphics provides this information freely to the SGI user community for its consideration, interpretation, implementation and use. Silicon Graphics recommends that this information be acted upon as soon as possible. Silicon Graphics provides the information in this Security Advisory on an "AS-IS" basis only, and disclaims all warranties with respect thereto, express, implied or otherwise, including, without limitation, any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Silicon Graphics be liable for any loss of profits, loss of business, loss of data or for any indirect, special, exemplary, incidental or consequential damages of any kind arising from your use of, failure to use or improper use of any of the instructions or information in this Security Advisory. ______________________________________________________________________________ - ----------------------- - --- Issue Specifics --- - ----------------------- WorkShop is a suite of software tools to aid in debugging programs. The cvconnect(1m) program is invoked by WorkShop and is not normally directly run by users. A vulnerability has been discovered in cvconnect(1M) which will allow users to overwrite any file on the system. Silicon Graphics Inc. has investigated the issue and recommends the following steps for neutralizing the exposure. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that these measures be implemented on ALL vulnerable SGI systems. This issue has been corrected in WorkShop 2.7 and higher. - -------------- - --- Impact --- - -------------- The WorkShop Debugger and Performance tools are an optional product and are not installed on the default IRIX system. Versions 2.6.* and lower of WorkShop have this cvconnect(1M) vulnerability. With a local account, the cvconnect(1M) vulnerability can be exploited locally and remotely. The cvconnect(1M) vulnerability can be utilized to overwrite any file on the system. The cvconnect(1M) vulnerability has been publicly discussed in Usenet newsgroups and mailing lists. - --------------------------- - ---- Temporary Solution --- - --------------------------- Although patches are available for this issue, it is realized that there may be situations where installing the patches immediately may not be possible. The steps below can be used to remove the vulnerability by removing the permissions of the cvconnect(1M) program. 1) Become the root user on the system. % /bin/su - Password: # 2) Verify a vulnerable WorkShop suite is installed. Versions 2.6.* and lower of WorkShop are vulnerable. # versions -b WorkShop\* I = Installed, R = Removed Name Date Description I WorkShop 07/03/96 Developer Magic: WorkShop 2.6 3) Change the permissions on the vulnerable cvconnect(1M) program. # /bin/chmod 500 /usr/lib/WorkShop/cvconnect ************ *** NOTE *** ************ Removing the permissions from the vulnerable program will prevent non-root users from accessing cvconnect(1M). 4) Verify the new permissions on the program. Note that the program size may be different depending on release. # ls -l /usr/lib/WorkShop/cvconnect -r-x------ 1 root sys 428664 Sep 11 1997 cvconnect 5) Return to previous user level. # exit $ - ---------------- - --- Solution --- - ---------------- Upgrade to WorkShop 2.7 or higher which is available from your local SGI support provider. WorkShop 2.7 CD Part Number is 812-0768-002 OS Version Vulnerable? Patch # Other Actions ---------- ----------- ------- ------------- IRIX 3.x no IRIX 4.x no IRIX 5.0.x no IRIX 5.1.x no IRIX 5.2 no IRIX 5.3 yes not avail see Note 1 IRIX 6.0.x no IRIX 6.1 yes not avail see Note 1 IRIX 6.2 yes Upgrade to WorkShop 2.7+ IRIX 6.3 yes Upgrade to WorkShop 2.7+ IRIX 6.4 yes Upgrade to WorkShop 2.7+ IRIX 6.5 yes Upgrade to WorkShop 2.7+ NOTES 1) upgrade operating system or see "Temporary Solution" section. - ------------------------ - --- Acknowledgments --- - ------------------------ Silicon Graphics wishes to thank the Internet Community at large for their assistance in this matter. - ----------------------------------------------------------- - --- Silicon Graphics Inc. Security Information/Contacts --- - ----------------------------------------------------------- If there are questions about this document, email can be sent to cse-security-alert@sgi.com. ------oOo------ Silicon Graphics provides security information and patches for use by the entire SGI community. This information is freely available to any person needing the information and is available via anonymous FTP and the Web. The primary SGI anonymous FTP site for security information and patches is sgigate.sgi.com (204.94.209.1). Security information and patches are located under the directories ~ftp/security and ~ftp/patches, respectively. The Silicon Graphics Security Headquarters Web page is accessible at the URL http://www.sgi.com/support/security/ . For issues with the patches on the FTP sites, email can be sent to cse-security-alert@sgi.com. For assistance obtaining or working with security patches, please contact your SGI support provider. ------oOo------ Silicon Graphics provides a free security mailing list service called wiretap and encourages interested parties to self-subscribe to receive (via email) all SGI Security Advisories when they are released. Subscribing to the mailing list can be done via the Web (http://www.sgi.com/support/security/wiretap.html) or by sending email to SGI as outlined below. % mail wiretap-request@sgi.com subscribe wiretap end ^d In the example above, is the email address that you wish the mailing list information sent to. The word end must be on a separate line to indicate the end of the body of the message. The control-d (^d) is used to indicate to the mail program that you are finished composing the mail message. ------oOo------ Silicon Graphics provides a comprehensive customer World Wide Web site. This site is located at http://www.sgi.com/support/security/ . ------oOo------ For reporting *NEW* SGI security issues, email can be sent to security-alert@sgi.com or contact your SGI support provider. A support contract is not required for submitting a security report. ______________________________________________________________________________ This information is provided freely to all interested parties and may be redistributed provided that it is not altered in any way, Silicon Graphics is appropriately credited and the document retains and includes its valid PGP signature. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBOU/467Q4cFApAP75AQHT3gQAn5l1ttCwjGBjQng0g+AsmO43xrcAoEeI zFwSbPSyo7Jsya0d/cCyQ37Pd1O/h7GtAam9sh1sLrJ9t8S84XYaAl53OtDQhWov 8gM+JIGZ+o2vY310wVGpX+viHG2A8WXLMVkVoHPw/6bsTTQ+HNlD11IGBvoOn1gt f0tfiTA/UMg= =G4Ax -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- [ End Silicon Graphics Inc. Advisory ] _____________________________________________________________________________ CIAC wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Silicon Graphics Inc. for the information contained in this bulletin. _____________________________________________________________________________ CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability, is the computer security incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the emergency backup response team for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CIAC is located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. CIAC is also a founding member of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, a global organization established to foster cooperation and coordination among computer security teams worldwide. CIAC services are available to DOE, DOE contractors, and the NIH. 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