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FreeBSD-SA-00:81                                           Security Advisory

                                                                FreeBSD, Inc.



Topic:          ethereal allows remote code execution



Category:       ports

Module:         ethereal

Announced:      2000-12-20

Credits:        mat@hacksware.com

Affects:        Ports collection prior to the correction date.

Corrected:      2000-11-21

Vendor status:  Updated version released

FreeBSD only:   NO



I.   Background



ethereal is a tool for monitoring network activity.



II.  Problem Description



The ethereal port, versions prior to 0.8.14, contains buffer overflows

which allow a remote attacker to crash ethereal or execute arbitrary

code on the local system as the user running ethereal, typically the

root user. These vulnerabilities are identical to those described in

advisory 00:61 relating to tcpdump.



The ethereal port is not installed by default, nor is it "part of

FreeBSD" as such: it is part of the FreeBSD ports collection, which

contains over 4200 third-party applications in a ready-to-install

format. The ports collections shipped with FreeBSD 3.5.1 and 4.2 are

vulnerable to this problem since it was discovered after the releases.



FreeBSD makes no claim about the security of these third-party

applications, although an effort is underway to provide a security

audit of the most security-critical ports.



III. Impact



Remote users can cause the local ethereal process to crash, or

to execute arbitrary code as the user running ethereal (usually root).



IV.  Workaround



Do not use vulnerable versions of ethereal in network environments

which may contain packets from untrusted sources.



Deinstall the ethereal port/package, if you have installed it.



V.   Solution



One of the following:



1) Upgrade your entire ports collection and rebuild the ethereal port.



2) Deinstall the old package and install a new package dated after the

correction date, obtained from the following directories:



http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-3-stable/net/ethereal-0.8.14.tgz

http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-4-stable/net/ethereal-0.8.14.tgz

http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-4-stable/net/ethereal-0.8.14.tgz

http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-5-current/net/ethereal-0.8.14.tgz

http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-5-current/net/ethereal-0.8.14.tgz



3) download a new port skeleton for the ethereal port from:



http://www.freebsd.org/ports/



and use it to rebuild the port.



4) Use the portcheckout utility to automate option (3) above. The

portcheckout port is available in /usr/ports/devel/portcheckout or the

package can be obtained from:



http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-3-stable/devel/portcheckout-2.0.tgz

http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-4-stable/devel/portcheckout-2.0.tgz

http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-4-stable/devel/portcheckout-2.0.tgz

http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-5-current/devel/portcheckout-2.0.tgz

http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-5-current/devel/portcheckout-2.0.tgz



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