Bug 75395 - net-analyzer/snort: Remote DoS vulnerability
Bug#: 75395 Product:  Gentoo Security Version: unspecified Platform: All
OS/Version: All Status: RESOLVED Severity: minor Priority: P2
Resolution: FIXED Assigned To: security@gentoo.org Reported By: lewk@gentoo.org
Component: Vulnerabilities
URL:  http://secunia.com/advisories/13664/
Summary: net-analyzer/snort: Remote DoS vulnerability
Keywords:  
Status Whiteboard: C3 [noglsa] lewk
Opened: 2004-12-22 20:18 0000
Description:   Opened: 2004-12-22 20:18 0000
This was the only sign of this vulnerability that I could find (i didn't look
very hard).  Solution says to upgrade to Snort 2.3.0-RC1 or later (RC2 is out
now).

Netmon, please verify and bump if necessary.  See URL for more information.

------- Comment #1 From Luke Macken (RETIRED) 2004-12-24 14:08:42 0000 -------
http://secunia.com/advisories/13664/

------- Comment #2 From Thierry Carrez (RETIRED) 2005-01-01 11:26:50 0000 -------
Confirmed in 2.3.0RC1 Changelog :

    * src/decode.c:
      Fix TCP/IP options print bug that was found by Marcin Zgorecki.  

However, << Successful exploitation requires that snort is configured with "FAST" output or verbose mode. >>

I am not sure we should consider this is a vulnerability, it looks rather like a bug. The SNORT team for sure doesn't consider this is a vulnerability and doesn't talk about this bug in Changelog summaries...

------- Comment #3 From Luke Macken (RETIRED) 2005-01-03 07:49:41 0000 -------
a bug that causes DoS == a vulnerability, imho.

Are the fast output and verbose modes enabled by default?  Backporting the patch is probably not an option, and bumping to a release candidate isn't always the best idea (i'm not sure what the policy is on this).

netmon, please verify/advise.

------- Comment #4 From Thierry Carrez (RETIRED) 2005-01-03 08:15:13 0000 -------
If a specific packet crashes long-running SNORT sensors, yes it's a DoS and yes
it's a vulnerability. But if it only crashes SNORT if you run in verbose mode
(primarily used on a given trace, not on long-running sensors), then you don't
really "deny service". You just crash a trace-reading tool. It's a bug... that
you solve by updating the tool.

So it all depends on whether FAST/verbose output modes are used in a "server"
context or not. 

------- Comment #5 From Thierry Carrez (RETIRED) 2005-01-10 01:36:20 0000 -------
From SNORT team :

===========================
First off... If you are using 2.3.0 RC1 or RC2? You are not vulnerable. Get back to work!

Yes, Snort is vulnerable to a denial of service. The bug was reported by Marcin Zgorecki, and fixed by Dan on 2004-10-04. You are only vulnerable if you are running snort with "FAST" output (which isn't very fast) or in verbose mode. Neither of these methods are recommended for production, so this bug should not be a problem for most people.

Using barnyard? Using snortdb? You are not vulnerable.

Using FAST output? Use this as an opportunity to switch to a faster output plugin (unified, and barnyard) or upgrade to 2.3.0RC2.
=============================

netmon, please bump to 2.3.0 RC2

------- Comment #6 From Daniel Black 2005-01-10 03:49:45 0000 -------
I'm looking into this now

------- Comment #7 From Daniel Black 2005-01-10 06:36:09 0000 -------
./snort-2.3.0_rc2.ebuild commited. Needs further testing in combinations of use
flags (little bit) and functionality of snort itself. Would be good if someone
could write a src_test function for this ebuild ;-).

Happy testing and good night.

------- Comment #8 From Thierry Carrez (RETIRED) 2005-01-11 02:52:46 0000 -------
jaervosz and I vote NO to a GLSA for that one. DoSsing a probe running in
non-recommended-in-production modes may be considered a vulnerability, but it's
certainly not a serious one.

This will be ready for closing once all KEYWORDS are set.

------- Comment #9 From Daniel Black 2005-01-11 04:45:20 0000 -------
Test plan:

emerge snort-2.3.0_rc2.ebuild
cp /etc/snort/snort.conf.dist /etc/snort/snort.conf

check a network interface exists in /etc/conf.d/short (eth0 by default)
/etc/init.d/snort start
nmap {serverip}
look in /var/log/snort/alerts for errors.

Known issues: have some -fPIC problems with dev-db/unixODBC that prevent snort starting on ppc with USE=odbc. Still investigating.

------- Comment #10 From Daniel Black 2005-01-11 05:08:11 0000 -------
ppc (me), sparc and amd64 keywords desired. Test plan as per comment 9. I'm
attempting to resolve odbc PIC issues that may/may not affect you (ppc
affected). Don't worry about it too much. Its a very minor additional extra for
snort that will hardly be used.

------- Comment #11 From Thierry Carrez (RETIRED) 2005-01-11 05:09:50 0000 -------
Only sparc needs to test and mark stable, this was never stable on amd64.

------- Comment #12 From Daniel Black 2005-01-11 06:19:56 0000 -------
ppc stable. libodbc -fpic troubles will be another bug.

------- Comment #13 From Gustavo Zacarias (RETIRED) 2005-01-11 07:01:10 0000 -------
Seems to be broken the same way as before for sparc (bug #29661).
BTW, libodbc doesn't seem to affect us.

------- Comment #14 From Jason Wever (RETIRED) 2005-01-11 18:09:31 0000 -------
Masked across the board on sparc with regard to bug #75395.  Basically this
could only work correctly when compiled in 64 bits on sparc64, and since that's
not fully supported atm, it gets the old maskaroo.

------- Comment #15 From Thierry Carrez (RETIRED) 2005-01-12 00:52:20 0000 -------
Then we're done, since it will not trigger a GLSA