RSI.0011.11-12-98.AIX.INFOD |:::. |::::: |::::. |::::: |::::: |::::. .. :: .. .. :: .. .. .. :: |:::: |:::: |:::: :::::: |::::: |:::: |: |: :: |: |: |:: |: |: :: |: :: |::::: |: |::::: |::::: |::::: Repent Security Incorporated, RSI [ http://www.repsec.com ] *** RSI ALERT ADVISORY *** --- [CREDIT] -------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Green: Discovered the vulnerability Mark Zielinski: Author of the advisory --- [SUMMARY] ------------------------------------------------------------- Announced: November 09, 1998 Report code: RSI.0011.11-12-98.AIX.INFOD Report title: AIX infod Vulnerability: Please see the details section Vendor status: AIX contacted on November 12, 1998 Patch status: IBM is currently working on several fixes Platforms: AIX 3.2.x, 4.1.x, 4.2.x, 4.3.x Reference: http://www.repsec.com/advisories.html Impact: If exploited, an attacker could potentially compromise root access locally on your server --- [DETAILS] ------------------------------------------------------------- Description: The Info Explorer daemon is a AIX utility which is used to provide documentation for the operating system and associated programs. Problem: The info daemon does not perform any validation on information passed to the local socket that it is bound to. Users on the system can send false information to the daemon and trick it into spawning a connection to the intruders X display. Details: By sending a UID and GID of 0, along with a false environment, infod will be forced into spawning a connection with root privileges to the intruder's X display. Once the program appears on the screen, they can goto the default options menu and change the printer command line to an alternate binary such as /bin/sh that gives privileges to the account the session was spawned under. --- [FIX] ----------------------------------------------------------------- Solution: IBM is currently working on the following fixes which will be available soon: AIX 3.2.x: upgrade to version 4 AIX 4.1.x: IX84640 AIX 4.2.x: IX84641 AIX 4.3.x: IX84642 Until the fixes can be applied, the infod daemon should be disabled. Run the following commands as root: # stopsrc -s infod # rmitab infod # chown root.system /usr/lpp/info/bin/infod # chmod 0 /usr/lpp/info/bin/infod --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Repent Security Incorporated (RSI) 13610 N. Scottsdale Rd. Suite #10-326 Scottsdale, AZ 85254 E-Mail: advise@repsec.com FTP: ftp://ftp.repsec.com WWW: http://www.repsec.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQCNAzU6dqAAAAEEAOHt9a5vevjD8ZjsEmncEbFp2U7aeqvPTcF/8FJMilgOVp75 dshXvZixHsYU7flgCNzA7wLIQPWBQBrweLG6dx9gE9e5Ca6yAJxZg8wNsi06tZfP nvmvf6F/7xoWS5Ei4k3YKuzscxlyePNNKws6uUe2ZmwVoB+i3HHT44dOafMhAAUT tBpSZXBTZWMgPGFkdmlzZUByZXBzZWMuY29tPg== =ro8H -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Copyright November 1998 RepSec, Inc. The information in this document is provided as a service to customers of RepSec, Inc. Neither RepSec, Inc., nor any of it's employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process contained herein, or represents that its use would not infringe any privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or services by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by RepSec, Inc. The views and opinions of authors express herein do no necessarily state or reflect those of RepSec, Inc., and may not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. The material in this alert advisory may be reproduced and distributed, without permission, in whole or in part, by other security incident response teams (both commercial and non-commercial), provided the above copyright is kept intact and due credit is given to RepSec, Inc. This alert advisory may be reproduced and distributed, without permission, in its entirety only, by any person provided such reproduction and/or distribution is performed for non-commercial purposes and with the intent of increasing the awareness of the Internet community. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- RepSec, Inc. are trademarks of RepSec, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective holders.