home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
-
- =============================================================================
- CERT* Advisory CA-96.08
- Original issue date: April 18, 1996
- Last revised: April 3, 1997
- Minor changes: corrected a name in the acknowledgments;
- indicated that CERT is now a registered service mark
-
- A complete revision history is at the end of this file.
-
- Topic: Vulnerabilities in PCNFSD
- - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- The CERT Coordination Center has received reports of two
- vulnerabilities in the pcnfsd program (pcnfsd is also known as
- rpc.pcnfsd); we have also received reports that these problems are
- being exploited. These vulnerabilities are present in some
- vendor-provided versions of pcnfsd and in some publicly available
- versions.
-
- These two vulnerabilities were reported by Avalon Security Research in
- reports entitled "pcnfsd."
-
- If you are using a vendor-supplied version of pcnfsd, please see the
- vendor information in Section III.A and Appendix A. Until you can install
- a patch from your vendor for these vulnerabilities, consider using the
- publicly available version described in Section III.B.
-
- If you already use or plan to switch to a public version, we urge you
- to use the version cited in Section III.B or install the patch
- described in Section III.C. This patch has already been incorporated
- into the pcnfsd version described in III.B. There are many different
- public domain versions of pcnfsd, and we have not analyzed the
- vulnerability of those versions. We have analyzed and fixed the
- problems noted in this advisory only in the version described in III.B.
-
- We will update this advisory as we receive additional information.
- Please check advisory files regularly for updates that relate to your site.
-
- - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- I. Description
-
- The pcnfsd program (also called rpc.pcnfsd) is an authentication and
- printing program that runs on a UNIX server. There are many publicly
- available versions, and several vendors supply their own version.
-
- pcnfsd supports a printing model that uses NFS to transfer files from
- a client to the pcnfsd server. (Note: pcnfsd does *not* provide NFS
- services.) When a client wants to print a file, it requests the path
- to a spool directory from the server. The client then writes the necessary
- files for printing using NFS, and informs the pcnfsd server that the
- files are ready for printing.
-
- pcnfsd creates a subdirectory for each of its clients using the client's
- hostname, then returns this path name to the client. The returned path
- name must be exported via to its clients by the NFS server. The
- NFS server and the pcnfsd server may be two separate machines.
-
- The first vulnerability is that pcnfsd, which runs as root, creates the
- aforementioned directories with mkdir(2) and then changes their mode
- with chmod(2) to mode 777. If the target directory is replaced with a
- symbolic link pointing to a restricted file or directory, the mkdir(2)
- will fail but the chmod(2) will succeed. This means that the target of
- the symbolic link will be mode 777.
-
- Note that pcnfsd must run as root when servicing print requests so that
- it can assume the identity of the PC user when interacting with UNIX
- print commands. On some systems, pcnfsd may also have to run as root so
- it can read restricted files when carrying out authentication tasks.
-
- The second vulnerability is that pcnfsd calls the system(3) subroutine
- as root, and the string passed to system(3) can be influenced by the
- arguments given in the remote procedure call. Remote users can execute
- arbitrary commands on the machine where pcnfsd runs.
-
-
- II. Impact
-
- For the first vulnerability, local users can change the permissions on
- any file accessible to the local system that the root user can change.
- For the second vulnerability, remote users can execute arbitrary commands
- as root on the machine where pcnfsd runs.
-
- The impact is that directories can become world writable (mode 777). What
- this can lead to is bounded by the creativity of the intruder. For
- example, once the mode of /etc were changed to mode 777, one could then
- replace the password file, and then go on from there.
-
- Exploitation of these vulnerabilities is only part of a larger attack
- scenario. Once exploited, there are many pathologies that could follow.
-
-
- III. Solution
-
- If you are using pcnfsd from a vendor, consult the vendor list in
- Section A. If your vendor is not listed, we recommend that you
- contact your vendor directly.
-
- Until a vendor patch is available, we recommend that you obtain the
- publicly available version of pcnfsd as described in Section B. This
- version already has the patch described in Section C.
-
- If you are presently using a public version of pcnfsd, we recommend
- that you either change to the version listed in Section B or apply the
- patch described in Section C. (The version in Section B already contains
- this patch.)
-
- A. Obtain and install the appropriate patch according to the
- instructions included with the patch.
-
- Below is a list of the vendors who have reported to us as of the date
- of this advisory. More complete information, is provided in the
- appendix. We will update the appendix as we receive more information.
-
- If your vendor's name is not on this list, please contact the vendor
- directly.
-
- Vendor or Source Status
- ---------------- ------------
- BSDI BSD/OS Vulnerable. Patch available.
- Hewlett Packard Vulnerable. Patch under development.
- IBM AIX 3.2 Vulnerable. Patches available.
- IBM AIX 4.1 Vulnerable. Patches available.
- NEXTSTEP Vulnerable. Will be fixed in version 4.0.
- SCO OpenServer 5 Vulnerable. Patch under development.
- SCO UnixWare 2.1 Vulnerable. Patch under development.
- SGI IRIX 5.3 Vulnerable. Patch under development.
- SGI IRIX 6.2 Not vulnerable.
-
-
- B. Until you are able to install the appropriate patch, we recommend
- that you obtain a version of pcnfsd from one of the following
- locations. This version already has the patch mentioned in
- Section III.C.
-
- ftp://ftp.cert.org/pub/tools/pcnfsd/pcnfsd.93.02.16-cert-dist.tar.Z
- ftp://ftp.cert.dfn.de/pub/tools/net/pcnfsd/pcnfsd.93.02.16-cert-dist.tar.Z
-
- MD5 (pcnfsd.93.02.16-cert-dist.tar.Z) = b7af99a07dfcf24b3da3446d073f8649
-
- Build, install, and restart rpc.pcnfsd.
-
- Ensure that the mode of the top-level pcnfsd spool directory is 755.
- In this version of pcnfsd, the top level spool directory is
- /usr/spool/pcnfs. To change this to mode 755, do the following as
- root:
-
- chmod 755 /usr/spool/pcnfs
-
-
- C. A patch is available for the two vulnerabilities described
- in this advisory. Apply the patch using the GNU patch utility or
- by hand as necessary. Rebuild, reinstall, and restart rpc.pcnfsd.
- Set the mode of the top-level pcnfsd spool directory to 755.
-
- For example, in the version of pcnfsd cited in Section B, the top
- level spool directory is /usr/spool/pcnfs. To change this to mode
- 755, do the following as root:
-
- chmod 755 /usr/spool/pcnfs
-
- Below is the location of a version of the patch that is an
- improvement over the patch originally cited in the advisory. The
- modifications are in the suspicious() function in pcnfsd_misc.c.,
- courtesy of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
-
- To prevent any confusion concerning the checksums, please see the file
- README.pcnfsd.93.02.16-cert. Checksums are also included below:
-
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tools/pcnfsd/README.pcnfsd.93.02.16-cert
- MD5 (README.pcnfsd.93.02.16-cert) = 07c64cd714bfaab3eb3849439a615b79
-
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tools/pcnfsd/pcnfsd.93.02.16-cert-dist.tar.Z
- MD5 (pcnfsd.93.02.16-cert-dist.tar.Z) = dc9b50172dfba8e6f9ad0c83f0e087e8
-
- Note: When the above file is unpacked, the md5 checksum referenced
- in the README.pcnfsd.93.02.16-cert matches the following:
-
- MD5 (pcnfsd.93.02.16-cert.tar) = 3a33f392d66b166cbc630275d8aba6f7
-
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tools/pcnfsd/pcnfsd_misc.c-diffs
- MD5 (pcnfsd_misc.c-diffs) = e9a83e6d540ab4683767ecf6d66dda9d
-
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/tools/pcnfsd/pcnfsd_print.c-diffs
- MD5 (pcnfsd_print.c-diffs) = 7d9dac3c14b258e855517894e2934b14
-
- .........................................................................
- Appendix A: Vendor Information
-
- Below is information we have received from vendors concerning the
- vulnerability described in this advisory. If you do not see your vendor's
- name, please contact the vendor directly for information.
-
- Berkeley Software Design, Inc. (BSDI)
- =====================================
- The problem described in these vulnerabilities is present in all versions
- of BSD/OS. There is a patch (our patch number U210-007) for our 2.1 version
- of BSD/OS and associated products available from our patch and ftp servers
- <patches@BSDI.> or ftp://ftp.BSDI.COM/bsdi/patches/patches-2.1/U210-007
-
-
- Data Design Systems, Inc.
- =========================
- The Tandem NonStop Kernel (NSK) system, does NOT contain either of the
- vulnerabilities cited in the advisory.
-
-
- Digital Equipment Corporation
- =============================
-
- For updated information, please refer to the Digital Equipment
- Corporation Vendor Bulletin #96.0383, available in
-
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/vendors/dec/dec_96.0383
-
- Note: Non-contract/non-warranty customers should contact
- local Digital support channels for information
- regarding these kits.
-
- As always, Digital urges you to periodically review your system
- management and security procedures. Digital will continue to review
- and enhance the security features of its products and work with
- customers to maintain and improve the security and integrity of their
- systems.
-
-
- FreeBSD Inc.
- ===========
-
- There are two seperate ways of upgrading. The patch listed below
- is a source code patch, and is available from:
-
- ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/FreeBSD-current/ports/net/pcnfsd/patches/patch-ad
-
- MD5 (patch-ad) = 6dfdf6229632e53cb060961ac09bbd1a
-
-
- This is part of the ports collection and anyone using current
- revisions of the ports system will automatically have this patch
- applied.
-
- You can also get a FreeBSD "package" (pre-compiled binary) from:
-
- ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/packages-current/net/pcnfsd-93.02.16.tgz
-
- MD5 (pcnfsd-93.02.16.tgz) = 59c54dae46d1b4fd41887877b0a7097a
-
-
- Hewlett-Packard Company
- =======================
-
- 1. The rpc.pcnfsd binary that ships with HP systems contains a
- vulnerability that could allow a user to change permissions on a
- restricted file or directory.
-
- Hewlett Packard is delivering a set of operating system dependent
- patches which contain a new version of rpc.pcnfsd. Accompanying
- each patch is a README file which discusses the general purpose
- of the patch and describes how to apply it to your system.
-
- Recommended solution:
-
- Apply one of the following patches based on your system hardware
- and operating system revision:
-
- s300/s400 9.X - PHNE_7371 (rpc.pcnfsd)
- s700/s800 9.X - PHNE_7072 (NFS Megapatch)
- s700/s800 10.X - PHNE_7073 (NFS Megapatch)
-
- The patches described above provide a new version of the
- rpc.pcnfsd executable which fixes the vulnerability.
-
-
- 2. The rpc.pcnfsd binary that ships with most Unix systems contains
- a vulnerability that could allow users to execute arbitrary
- commands on the machine where pcnfsd runs.
-
- The rpc.pcnfsd daemon that ships with Hewlett Packard systems
- does not make the system call that allows this vulnerability.
- Since HP systems are not vulnerable - there is no fix!
-
- To subscribe to automatically receive future NEW HP Security Bulletins
- please refer to information in
-
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/vendors/hp/HP.contact_info
-
-
- IBM Corporation
- ===============
- See the appropriate release below to determine your action.
-
-
- AIX 3.2
- -------
- Apply the following fixes to your system:
-
- APAR - IX57623 (PTF - U442633)
- APAR - IX56965 (PTF - U442638)
-
- To determine if you have these PTFs on your system, run the following
- commands:
-
- lslpp -lB U442633
- lslpp -lB U442638
-
-
- AIX 4.1
- -------
- Apply the following fixes to your system:
-
- APAR - IX57616
- APAR - IX56730
-
- To determine if you have these APARs on your system, run the following
- commands:
-
- instfix -ik IX57616
- instfix -ik IX56730
-
-
- To Order
- --------
- APARs may be ordered using FixDist or from the IBM Support Center.
- For more information on FixDist, reference URL:
-
- http://service.software.ibm.com/aixsupport/
-
- or send e-mail to aixserv@austin.ibm.com with a subject of "FixDist".
-
-
- IBM and AIX are registered trademarks of International Business Machines
- Corporation.
-
-
- NEC Corporation
- ===============
-
- Some systems are vulnerable and patches are available through
- anonymous FTP from ftp://ftp.meshnet.or.jp in the /pub/48pub/security
- directory.
-
- UP-UX/V (Rel4.2MP) R5.x NECu5s003.COM.pkg
- /pub/48pub/security/up/r5/pkg
- Results of sum = 3060 266
- md5 = 79E626B99A55FB0DBCE6EE642874570A
- R6.x NECu6s003.COM.pkg
- /pub/48pub/security/up/r6/pkg
- Results of sum = 47304 272
- md5 = 9FC9E993A5AB51291BF4817D3D70FBFD
- R7.x NECu7s003.COM.pkg
- /pub/48pub/security/up/r7/pkg
- Results of sum = 46470 291
- md5 = 59CA6887078AF88EA165AFD3BF5A1374
-
- EWS-UX/V(Rel4.2) R7.x NECe7s004.COM.pkg
- /pub/48pub/security/ews/r7/pkg
- Results of sum = 3827 194
- md5 = 4D40D9258DAB7EA41C30789609818330
-
- R8.x NECe8s004.COM.pkg
- /pub/48pub/security/ews/r8/pkg
- Results of sum = 24399 199
- md5 = 40B4CB1140791C14D1B604B6E8CB5FCB
-
- R9.x(except EWS4800/110N)
- NECe9s008.COM.pkg
- /pub/48pub/security/ews/r9/pkg
- Results of sum = 23250 203
- md5 = 5AD8BED137AAE7D0067EF3120574786C
-
- R9.x(EWS4800/110N)
- NECe9s007.COM.pkg
- /pub/48pub/security/ews/r9n/pkg
- Results of sum = 3972 201
- md5 = 28B2FA99F5200F81C5465571EF27E08B
-
- R10.x NECeas004.COM.pkg
- /pub/48pub/security/ews/ran/pkg
- Results of sum = 51969 205
- md5 = B6E12017E66DC8DC38FBE78CA1F0B0F0
-
- EWS-UX/V (Rel4.2MP) R10.x NECmas007.COM.pkg
- /pub/48pub/security/ews/ra/pkg
- Results of sum = 48060 291
- md5 = 42F8AE832071F033E21D8718A3670D76
-
- UX/4800 R11.x NECmbs010.COM.pkg
- /pub/48pub/security/ews/rb/pkg
- Results of sum = 24885 335
- md5 = 7A14CBE4EA9B2470E340B5EEFD523F95
-
- For further information contact: UX48-security-support@nec.co.jp.
- We encourage you contact the vendor directly if you have any questions.
-
-
- NeXT Software, Inc.
- ===================
- NEXTSTEP is vulnerable. This will be fixed in the 4.0 release of
- OpenStep for Mach (aka NEXTSTEP 4.0, due out 2Q96).
-
-
- Novell
- ======
-
- CERT staff do not know whether Novell's enhanced version of PCNFSD
- (LWPNFSD) is vulnerable to this problem. We encourage you contact the
- vendor directly if you have any questions.
-
-
- The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
- ==============================
- Patches for pcnfsd are currently being developed for the
- following releases:
-
- SCO OpenServer 5
- SCO UnixWare 2.1.
-
- These releases, as well as all prior releases, are vulnerable to
- both issues mentioned in the advisory. Should you not need to use
- pcnfs, SCO recommends that you not run pcnfsd. This can be done
- by commenting out pcnfsd in the appropriate script that starts
- pcnfsd, located in /etc/rc2.d.
-
- This CERT advisory will be updated when further patch
- information is available.
-
-
- Silicon Graphics Corporation
- ============================
-
- pcnfsd was only released for IRIX 5.3 and IRIX 6.2.
- SGI is producing patch1179 for IRIX 5.3.
- IRIX 6.2 is not vulnerable.
-
-
- Sun Microsystems, Inc.
- ======================
- Sun has made patches available:
-
- Solaris 2.4, 2.5 (Sparc) 103095-02
- Solaris 2.4, 2.5 (X86) 103457-01
- SunOS 4.1.X 103096-02
-
-
- TGV Software, Inc./Cisco Systems, Inc.
- ======================================
-
- These vulnerabilities are UNIX-specific and are not present in any version
- of MultiNet for OpenVMS.
-
-
- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The CERT Coordination Center thanks Josh Daymont, Ben G., and Alfred H. of
- Avalon Security Research for providing information for this advisory.
- We thank Wolfgang Ley of DFN-CERT for his help in understanding these
- problems.
- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- If you believe that your system has been compromised, contact the CERT
- Coordination Center or your representative in the Forum of Incident
- Response and Security Teams (FIRST).
-
- We strongly urge you to encrypt any sensitive information you send by email.
- The CERT Coordination Center can support a shared DES key and PGP. Contact the
- CERT staff for more information.
-
- Location of CERT PGP key
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/CERT_PGP.key
-
- CERT Contact Information
- - ------------------------
- Email cert@cert.org
-
- Phone +1 412-268-7090 (24-hour hotline)
- CERT personnel answer 8:30-5:00 p.m. EST
- (GMT-5)/EDT(GMT-4), and are on call for
- emergencies during other hours.
-
- Fax +1 412-268-6989
-
- Postal address
- CERT Coordination Center
- Software Engineering Institute
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890
- USA
-
- CERT publications, information about FIRST representatives, and other
- security-related information are available for anonymous FTP from
- http://www.cert.org/
- ftp://info.cert.org/pub/
-
- CERT advisories and bulletins are also posted on the USENET newsgroup
- comp.security.announce
-
- To be added to our mailing list for CERT advisories and bulletins, send your
- email address to
- cert-advisory-request@cert.org
-
-
- Copyright 1996 Carnegie Mellon University
- This material may be reproduced and distributed without permission provided it
- is used for noncommercial purposes and the copyright statement is included.
-
- * Registered U. S. Trademark and Patent Office.
-
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Revision history
-
- Apr. 03, 1997 Minor changes: corrected a name in the acknowledgments;
- indicated that CERT is now a registered service mark
- Aug. 30, 1996 Information previously in the README was inserted into the
- advisory. Appendix B was moved to Sec. III.C.
- Appendix A - updated IBM URL in "To Order" section.
- Aug. 01, 1996 Appendix A - updated Hewlett-Packard patch information.
- July 26, 1996 Appendix A - modified NEC patch information.
- July 5, 1996 Appendix A - added pointer to updated vendor information for
- Digital Equipment Corporation.
- June 26, 1996 Appendix A - updated vendor information for NEC.
- Appendix A - added vendor information for Data Design
- Systems, Inc.
- May 8, 1996 Appendix A - added patch information for FreeBSD.
- May 6, 1996 Section II -added additional clarification about the
- impact of the vulnerability described.
- Appendix B - replaced the patch information originally
- contained in Appendix B with updated information.
- Appendix A - added updates for Digital Equipment
- Corporation, Novell, Sun Microsystems, Inc,
- and TGV Software, Inc./Cisco Systems, Inc.
- Apr. 23, 1996 Appendix A - added information from NEC Corporation.
- Apr. 19, 1996 Appendix B - new information on the fix referred to
- in Appendix B of the advisory.
-
-
- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
- Version: 2.6.2
-
- iQCVAwUBM0PT7HVP+x0t4w7BAQHq5AP/Yu2kYH1YEe3+mH41JpHR4qGAm9PpWFH3
- jc7Mwgr2ablylKgcglIXQKI04MfPjLM1jXggjR1kHvKC4vg7UVhm9D5QlpKwduO1
- r9mQbXSZJPRhUYlIjMGc3HB/raH6e7SbGdh9q/aRquJxwuqqA1AY+S0SSPza8YZw
- AoS2huUKXTo=
- =1nrN
- -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
-
-