Multiple remote overflows and vulnerabilities in Ethereal

Security Team Contact Address

Updated March 28, 2004

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200403-07 / ethereal
Release Date	March 28, 2004
Latest Revision	March 28, 2004: 01
Impact	high
Exploitable	remote

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
net-analyzer/ethereal	<= 0.10.2	>= 0.10.3	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #45543

Synopsis

Mulitple overflows and vulnerabilities exist in Ethereal which may allow an attacker to crash the program or run arbitrary code.

2. Impact Information

Background

Quote from http://www.ethereal.com

"Ethereal is used by network professionals around the world for troubleshooting, analysis, software and protocol development, and education. It has all of the standard features you would expect in a protocol analyzer, and several features not seen in any other product. Its open source license allows talented experts in the networking community to add enhancements. It runs on all popular computing platforms, including Unix, Linux, and Windows."

Description

There are multiple vulnerabilities in versions of Ethereal earlier than 0.10.3, including:

Thirteen buffer overflows in the following protocol dissectors: NetFlow, IGAP, EIGRP, PGM, IrDA, BGP, ISUP, and TCAP.
A zero-length Presentation protocol selector could make Ethereal crash.
A vulnerability in the RADIUS packet dissector which may crash ethereal.
A corrupt color filter file could cause a segmentation fault.

Impact

These vulnerabilities may cause Ethereal to crash or may allow an attacker to run arbitrary code on the user's computer.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

While a workaround is not currently known for this issue, all users are advised to upgrade to the latest version of the affected package.

Resolution

All users should upgrade to the current version of the affected package:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge sync

# emerge -pv ">=net-analyzer/ethereal-0.10.3"
# emerge ">=net-analyzer/ethereal-0.10.3"

4. References