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If through a vulnerability assessment, a network security issue is detected for the vulnerability below, applying the appropriate security patches in a timely matter is very important. If you have detected that your system has already been compromised, following CERT's Network Security recovery document will assist with recommended steps for system recovery.

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Vulnerability Assessment Details

tooltalk format string

Vulnerability Assessment Summary
Checks the presence of a RPC service

Detailed Explanation for this Vulnerability Assessment

The tooltalk RPC service is running.

There is a format string bug in many versions
of this service, which permit a possible hacker to gain
root remotely.

In addition to this, several versions of this service
permit remote attackers to overwrite abitrary memory
locations with a zero and possibly gain rights
via a file descriptor argument in an AUTH_UNIX
procedure call which is used as a table index by the
_TT_ISCLOSE procedure.

*** This warning may be a false positive since the existence
*** of the bug was not verified locally.

Solution : Disable this service or patch it
See also : CERT Advisories CA-2001-27 and CA-2002-20

Network Security Threat Level: High

Networks Security ID: 3382, 5082

Vulnerability Assessment Copyright: This script is Copyright (C) 2001 Renaud Deraison

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