****************************************************************************** Security Bulletin 9508 DISA Defense Communications System February 27, 1995 Published by: DDN Security Coordination Center (SCC@NIC.DDN.MIL) 1-(800) 365-3642 DEFENSE DATA NETWORK SECURITY BULLETIN The DDN SECURITY BULLETIN is distributed by the DDN SCC (Security Coordination Center) under DISA contract as a means of communicating information on network and host security exposures, fixes, and concerns to security and management personnel at DDN facilities. Back issues may be obtained via FTP (or Kermit) from NIC.DDN.MIL [192.112.36.5] using login="anonymous" and password="guest". The bulletin pathname is scc/ddn-security-yynn (where "yy" is the year the bulletin is issued and "nn" is a bulletin number, e.g. scc/ddn-security-9505). ************************************************************************** + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + | The following important advisory was issued by the Department of | | Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC), and is being | | relayed unedited via the Defense Information Systems Agency's | | Security Coordination Center distribution system as a means | | of providing DDN subscribers with useful security information. | + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + _____________________________________________________ The U.S. Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability ___ __ __ _ ___ / | /_\ / \___ __|__ / \ \___ _____________________________________________________ INFORMATION BULLETIN HP-UX Malicious Code Sequences February 23, 1995 1200 PST Number F-14 _____________________________________________________________________________ PROBLEM: Malicious coding sequences can cause security vulnerabilities in HP-UX 9.x. PLATFORMS: HP 9000 series 700/800s, for HP-UX version 9.x DAMAGE: Local users can gain unauthorized privileges. SOLUTION: Apply appropriate vendor patch as described below. _____________________________________________________________________________ VULNERABILITY This vulnerability can cause the HP-UX Operating System to ASSESSMENT: to crash or allow unauthorized access. CIAC urges affected sites to install the appropriate secuirty patch. _____________________________________________________________________________ Critical Information about HP-UX Malicious Code Sequences CIAC has obtained information from Hewlett Packard regarding a new security vulnerability involving malicious coding sequences which can be used to compromise the security and/or integrity of a system. Specific patch details are provided below. The document ftp://ciac.llnl.gov/pub/ciac/bulletin/f-fy95/hppatchs.txt has been updated to reflect this bulletin. The hppatchs.txt document contains the entire list of all HP Bulletins and patches. IMPORTANT NOTE: Hewlett Packard updates patches periodically. These updates are not reflected in the text of each HP bulletin. The overview presented here contains current information on the patches available at the time of the release of this CIAC bulletin. If you request an updated patch, when you try to retrieve the patch you will receive a message stating that the patch is obsolete and the name of the patch which supersedes it. Hewlett Packard has made sum and MD5 checksums available for their patches and for their security bulletins. See the detailed explanation for HPSBUX9408-016 in CIAC bulletin F-02 for information on how to access and utilize these checksums. Following is the copy of the HP bulletin (HPSBUX9502-022): [Begin HP Bulletin] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary of 'Daily Security Bulletins Digest' documents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Document Id Description Page 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HPSBUX9502-022 Security Vulnerability involving malicious users =============================================================================== Detailed list of 'Daily Security Bulletins Digest' documents =============================================================================== Document Id: [HPSBUX9502-022] Date Loaded: [02-15-95] Description: Security Vulnerability involving malicious users =============================================================================== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- HEWLETT-PACKARD SECURITY BULLETIN: #00022, 15 February 95 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The information in the following Security Bulletin should be acted upon as soon as possible. Hewlett-Packard will not be liable for any consequences to any customer resulting from customer's failure to fully implement instructions in this Security Bulletin as soon as possible. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PROBLEM: Security vulnerability involving malicious users PLATFORM: HP 9000 series 700 and series 800 at revisions 9.X DAMAGE: Users can gain unauthorized privileges SOLUTION: Apply the appropriate patch for your version of HP-UX For HP-UX 9.09+ (BLS), apply patch PHKL_5190, HP-UX 9.09 (BLS), apply patch PHKL_5191, HP-UX 9.08 (BLS), apply patch PHKL_5192, HP-UX 9.05, apply patch PHKL_5049, HP-UX 9.04, apply patch PHKL_5051, HP-UX 9.03, apply patch PHKL_5049, HP-UX 9.01, apply patch PHKL_5048, HP-UX 9.0 , apply patch PHKL_5050. AVAILABILITY: All patches are available now. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Problem Hewlett-Packard has discovered some malicious coding sequences that can cause the HP-UX Operating System to crash. These coding sequences are malicious in origin and not representative of compiler generated code. The resulting system crash is not always predictable, depending heavily on the state of the system at the time of the attack. Given this uncertainty, it is feasible that the security and/or integrity of the system might become compromised. Having identified this type of system vulnerability, HP has developed a patch that when installed provides the following countermeasures. First, it will protect your system from privilege violations that might be attempted using these malicious coding sequences. Secondly, it strengthens the Operating System so that it is more resistant to this type of attack. Should the attack succeed in crashing the system, this patch will in most cases report the identity of the process and user that executed the malicious coding sequences. System Administrators can use this identification information to help track down the source of such attacks on their system. B. What the Patch Does This patch replaces key HP-UX library routines C. How to Get The Patch For HP-UX BLS product patches PHKL_5190, PHKL_5191 & PHKL_5192 are NOT electronically available. For assistance in obtaining and installing this patch contact the HP Response Center at 1 (800) 633-3600. Be sure to mention the keyword "BLS" to help route the call. All the other patches are available electronically. You can retrieve a patch by using the service described below. D. How to Install The Patch 1. Determine which patch is appropriate for your hardware platform and operating system: On the BLS product, HP-UX 9.08 (series 800) & HP-UX 9.09 (series 700), execute: what /hp-ux . On commercial products HP-UX 9.X (series 800) & HP-UX 9.X (series 700), execute: what /hp-ux . Look for the product 9245XA (series 800) and B2352A (series 700) to identify the revision currently running. Then use the table above to select the appropriate patch to request or retrieve. 2. Hewlett Packard's HP-UX patches are available via email & WWW (MOSAIC) To obtain a copy of the HP SupportLine email service user's guide, send the following in the TEXT PORTION OF THE MESSAGE to support@support.mayfield.hp.com (no Subject is required): send guide The users guide explains the process for downloading HP-UX patches via email and other services available. WWW (MOSAIC) service (downloading of patches) is also available via WWW (MOSAIC) our URL is: (http://support.mayfield.hp.com) 3. Apply the patch to your HP-UX system. 4. Examine /tmp/update.log for any relevant WARNINGs or ERRORs. This can be done as follows: a. At the shell prompt, type "tail -60 /tmp/update.log | more" b. Page through the next three screens via the space bar, looking for WARNING or ERROR messages. E. Impact of the patch and workaround No patches will be available for versions of HP-UX prior to 9.0. F. How to get Help If you need help installing a patch and have a Support Contract you can call the HP Response Center at 1 (800) 633-3600. If you have no Support Contract, call the same number and ask to make a "Helpline" call for assistance (payable via credit card). Since security patches are treated very carefully by HP yet are available free of charge, no additional information about the security issues addressed by these patches will be given. G. To subscribe to automatically receive future NEW HP Security Bulletins from the HP Support-Line mail service via electronic mail, send an e-mail message to: support@support.mayfield.hp.com (no Subject is required) Multiple instructions are allowed in the TEXT PORTION OF THE MESSAGE, here are some basic instructions you may want to use: * To add your name to the subscription list for new Security Bulletins, send the following in the TEXT PORTION OF THE MESSAGE: subscribe security_info * To retrieve the index of all HP Security Bulletins issued to date, send the following in the TEXT PORTION OF THE MESSAGE: send security_info_list WWW (MOSAIC) service (Browsing of Bulletins) is also available via WWW (MOSAIC) our URL is: http://support.mayfield.hp.com Choose "Support news", then under Support news, choose "Security Bulletins" H. To report new security vulnerabilities, send email to security-alert@hp.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- [End HP Bulletin] CIAC is the computer security incident response team for the U.S. Department of Energy. Services are available free of charge to DOE and DOE contractors. DOE and DOE contractor sites can contact CIAC at: Voice: 510-422-8193 FAX: 510-423-8002 STU-III: 510-423-2604 E-mail: ciac@llnl.gov Previous CIAC notices, anti-virus software, and other information are available on the Internet via anonymous FTP from ciac.llnl.gov (IP address 128.115.19.53). CIAC has several self-subscribing mailing lists for electronic publications: 1. CIAC-BULLETIN for Advisories, highest priority - time critical information, and Bulletins, important computer security information; 2. CIAC-NOTES for Notes, a collection of computer security articles; 3. SPI-ANNOUNCE for official news about Security Profile Inspector (SPI) software updates, new features, distribution and availability; 4. SPI-NOTES, for discussion of problems and solutions regarding the use of SPI products. Our mailing lists are managed by a public domain software package called ListProcessor, which ignores E-mail header subject lines. To subscribe (add yourself) to one of our mailing lists, send requests of the following form: subscribe list-name LastName, FirstName PhoneNumber as the E-mail message body, substituting CIAC-BULLETIN, CIAC-NOTES, SPI-ANNOUNCE or SPI-NOTES for "list-name" and valid information for "LastName" "FirstName" and "PhoneNumber." Send to: ciac-listproc@llnl.gov not to: ciac@llnl.gov e.g., subscribe ciac-notes O'Hara, Scarlett 404-555-1212 x36 subscribe ciac-bulletin O'Hara, Scarlett 404-555-1212 x36 You will receive an acknowledgment containing address and initial PIN, and information on how to change either of them, cancel your subscription, or get help. _____________________________________________________________________________ PLEASE NOTE: Many users outside of the DOE and ESnet computing communities receive CIAC bulletins. If you are not part of these communities, please contact your agency's response team to report incidents. Your agency's team will coordinate with CIAC. The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is a world-wide organization. A list of FIRST member organizations and their constituencies can be obtained by sending E-mail to first-request@first.org with an empty subject line and a message body containing the line: send first-contacts. This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government nor the University of California, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. _____________________________________________________________________________ **************************************************************************** * * * The point of contact for MILNET security-related incidents is the * * Security Coordination Center (SCC). * * * * E-mail address: SCC@NIC.DDN.MIL * * * * Telephone: 1-(800)-365-3642 * * * * NIC Help Desk personnel are available from 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. EST, * * Monday through Friday except on federal holidays. * * * **************************************************************************** PLEASE NOTE: Some users outside of the DOD computing communities may receive DDN Security bulletins. If you are not part of the DOD community, please contact your agency's incident response team to report incidents. Your agency's team will coordinate with DOD. The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is a world-wide organization. A list of FIRST member organizations and their constituencies can be obtained by sending email to docserver@first.org with an empty subject line and a message body containing the line: send first-contacts. This document was prepared as an service to the DOD community. Neither the United States Government nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government. The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.