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Home >> Browse Vulnerability Assessment Database >> Red Hat Local Security Checks >> RHSA-2003-074: sendmail

Vulnerability Assessment Details

RHSA-2003-074: sendmail

Vulnerability Assessment Summary
Check for the version of the sendmail packages

Detailed Explanation for this Vulnerability Assessment

Updated Sendmail packages are available to fix a vulnerability that
may permit remote attackers to gain root rights by sending a
carefully crafted message.

[Updated March 18 2003]
Added packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES and Red Hat Enterprise Linux
WS.

Sendmail is a widely used Mail Transport Agent (MTA) which is included
in all Red Hat Enterprise Linux distributions.

During a code audit of Sendmail by ISS, a critical vulnerability was
uncovered that affects unpatched versions of Sendmail prior to version
8.12.8. A remote attacker can send a carefully crafted email message
which, when processed by sendmail, causes arbitrary code to be
executed as root.

We are advised that a proof-of-concept exploit is known to exist, but
is not believed to be in the wild.

Since this is a message-based vulnerability, MTAs other than Sendmail
may pass on the carefully crafted message. This means that unpatched
versions of Sendmail inside a network could still be at risk even if
they do not accept external connections directly.

All users are advised to update to these erratum packages which contain
a backported patch to correct this vulnerability.

Red Hat would like to thank Eric Allman for his assistance with this
vulnerability.

Solution : http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2003-074.html
Network Security Threat Level: High

Networks Security ID:

Vulnerability Assessment Copyright: This script is Copyright (C) 2004 Tenable Network Security

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