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Home >> Browse Vulnerability Assessment Database >> Gentoo Local Security Checks >> [GLSA-200410-03] NetKit-telnetd: buffer overflows in telnet and telnetd

Vulnerability Assessment Details

[GLSA-200410-03] NetKit-telnetd: buffer overflows in telnet and telnetd

Vulnerability Assessment Summary
NetKit-telnetd: buffer overflows in telnet and telnetd

Detailed Explanation for this Vulnerability Assessment
The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-200410-03
(NetKit-telnetd: buffer overflows in telnet and telnetd)

A possible buffer overflow exists in the parsing of option strings by the
telnet daemon, where proper bounds checking is not applied when writing to
a buffer. Additionaly, another possible buffer overflow has been found by
Josh Martin in the handling of the environment variable HOME.

Impact

A remote attacker sending a specially-crafted options string to the telnet
daemon could be able to run arbitrary code with the rights of the user
running the telnet daemon, usually root. Furthermore, a possible hacker could
make use of an overlong HOME variable to cause a buffer overflow in the
telnet client, potentially leading to the local execution of arbitrary
code.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

References:
http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2001-0554
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=264846

Solution:
All NetKit-telnetd users should upgrade to the latest version:
# emerge sync
# emerge -pv ">=net-misc/netkit-telnetd-0.17-r4"
# emerge ">=net-misc/netkit-telnetd-0.17-r4"

Network Security Threat Level: High

Networks Security ID:

Vulnerability Assessment Copyright: (C) 2005 Michel Arboi

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