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Bug 181941 - mail-filter/spamassassin Symlink DoS issue (CVE-2007-2873)
Summary: mail-filter/spamassassin Symlink DoS issue (CVE-2007-2873)
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: Gentoo Security
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Vulnerabilities (show other bugs)
Hardware: All Linux
: High minor (vote)
Assignee: Gentoo Security
URL: http://spamassassin.apache.org/adviso...
Whiteboard: C3? [noglsa] jaervosz
Keywords:
: 182149 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2007-06-13 19:36 UTC by Sune Kloppenborg Jeppesen (RETIRED)
Modified: 2020-04-02 21:47 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Package list:
Runtime testing required: ---


Attachments

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Description Sune Kloppenborg Jeppesen (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-13 19:36:46 UTC
CVE reference: CVE-2007-2873

Description:

A local user symlink-attack DoS vulnerability in SpamAssassin has been found,
affecting versions 3.1.x, 3.2.0, and SVN trunk.  It has been assigned
CVE-2007-2873. Details:

- It only affects systems where spamd is run as root, is used with vpopmail or
  virtual users via the "-v"/"--vpopmail" OR "--virtual-config-dir" switch, AND
  with the "-x"/"--no-user-config AND WITHOUT the "-u"/"--username" switch AND
  with the "-l"/"--allow-tell" switch.

  This is not default on any distro package, and is not a common configuration.
  
- It is a local exploit that requires the attacker to have a local account
  whose mail is being processed by spamd.

- The effect of the exploit is to allow overwriting of arbitrary files that are
  accessible by the spamd process (running as root), with data that is not
  under the control of the attacker.  Hence it is a DoS vulnerability that does
  not allow remote execution nor escalation of local privileges.


Workaround: If you are running spamd using a vulnerable combination of switches,
add the "-u" / "--username" switch to specify a non-root user that spamd child
processes will run as.

Note that in a mixed real/virtual user environment you will now have to run two
separate instances of spamd on different ports, with the instance that
specifies "-v"/"--vpopmail" or "--virtual-config-dir" also specifying
"-u"/"--username".

Fix: The vulnerability is fixed in SpamAssassin version 3.2.1 by, among other
fixes, no longer allowing the use of "-v"/"--vpopmail" or
"--virtual-config-dir" without the "-u"/"--username" switch.  Thus, the
configuration change described in the above workaround is still necessary when
upgrading to 3.2.1.

Further info: mail <security at SpamAssassin.apache.org>
Announced: Jun 11 2007
Corrected: Jun 11 2007
Affects: all versions before the correction date, after and including 3.1.0
Credit: discovery of this vulnerability credited to Martin F. Krafft 
  <madduck@debian.org>
Comment 1 Jakub Moc (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-15 14:15:10 UTC
*** Bug 182149 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 2 Sune Kloppenborg Jeppesen (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-16 06:18:29 UTC
perl please advise and bump as necessary.
Comment 3 coran.fisher@gmail.com 2007-06-16 14:46:37 UTC
3.2.1 is a major bug-fix release, including a potential local DoS.  The
major highlights are:

- bug 5480: fix for CVE-2007-2873: a local user symlink-attack DoS
  vulnerability. It only affects systems where spamd is run as root, is used
  with vpopmail or virtual users via the "-v"/"--vpopmail" OR
  "--virtual-config-dir" switch, AND with the "-x"/"--no-user-config AND
  WITHOUT the "-u"/"--username" switch AND with the "-l"/"--allow-tell" switch.
  This is not default on any distro package, and is not a common configuration.
  More details of the vulnerability can be read at
  <http://spamassassin.apache.org/advisories/cve-2007-2873.txt>.

<list of other bugs truncated as they aren't related to this bug>
Comment 4 Christian Hartmann (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-17 12:49:53 UTC
It's failing in tests for me. So no bump from me currently.
Comment 5 Michael Cummings (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-18 16:08:01 UTC
hmmm...passed all tests over here (hence my bump when i saw the update notice from apache.org, irrespective of this bug). where's it failing ian?
Comment 6 Michael Cummings (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-18 22:46:36 UTC
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/spamassassin/users/102895

tests seem broken for root. running as a regular user produces success

t/utf8......................ok                                               
t/util_wrap.................ok                                               
t/whitelist_addrs...........ok                                               
t/whitelist_from............ok                                               
t/whitelist_subject.........ok                                               
t/whitelist_to..............ok                                               
t/zz_cleanup................ok                                               
All tests successful, 16 tests skipped.
Files=129, Tests=1985, 582 wallclock secs (288.68 cusr + 22.90 csys = 311.58 CPU)


Move to disable tests for this release (especially if we're looking at a gsla related keywording)
Comment 7 Sune Kloppenborg Jeppesen (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-23 18:02:30 UTC
Thx Micheal.

Arches please test and mark stable. Target keywords are:

spamassassin-3.2.1-r1.ebuild:KEYWORDS="alpha amd64 hppa ia64 mips ppc ppc64 sparc x86"
Comment 8 Christoph Mende (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-23 18:26:15 UTC
amd64 done
Comment 9 Jeroen Roovers (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-23 23:57:21 UTC
Marked stable for HPPA:
 dev-util/re2c-0.12.0
 mail-filter/spamassassin-3.2.1-r1
Comment 10 Raúl Porcel (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-24 15:30:57 UTC
alpha/ia64/x86 stable
Comment 11 Tobias Scherbaum (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-24 19:51:52 UTC
ppc stable
Comment 12 Gustavo Zacarias (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-25 13:28:18 UTC
sparc stable.
Comment 13 Markus Rothe (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-06-26 05:47:26 UTC
ppc64 stable
Comment 14 Sune Kloppenborg Jeppesen (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-07-01 02:23:07 UTC
This one is ready for GLSA decision. I vote NO.
Comment 15 Pierre-Yves Rofes (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-07-01 09:51:03 UTC
voting NO too.
Comment 16 Matt Drew (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-07-02 21:47:14 UTC
vote no, too specific and extremely unlikely.
Comment 17 Stefan Cornelius (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2007-07-13 16:19:26 UTC
yet another no and closing