Multiple Vulnerabilities in ssmtp

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200404-18 / ssmtp
Release Date	April 26, 2004
Latest Revision	April 26, 2004: 01
Impact	high
Exploitable	remote root

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
mail-mta/ssmtp	<= 2.60.4-r2	>= 2.60.7	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #47918, #48435

Synopsis

There are multiple format string vulnerabilities in the SSMTP package, which may allow an attacker to run arbitrary code with ssmtp's privileges (potentially root).

2. Impact Information

Background

SSMTP is a very simple mail transfer agent (MTA) that relays mail from the local machine to another SMTP host. It is not designed to function as a full mail server; its sole purpose is to relay mail.

Description

There are two format string vulnerabilities inside the log_event() and die() functions of ssmtp. Strings from outside ssmtp are passed to various printf()-like functions from within log_event() and die() as format strings. An attacker could cause a specially-crafted string to be passed to these functions, and potentially cause ssmtp to execute arbitrary code.

Impact

If ssmtp connects to a malicious mail relay server, this vulnerability can be used to execute code with the rights of the mail sender, including root.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time. All users are advised to upgrade to the latest available version of ssmtp.

Resolution

All users are advised to upgrade to the latest available version of ssmtp.

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge sync
# emerge -pv ">=mail-mta/ssmtp-2.60.7"
# emerge ">=mail-mta/ssmtp-2.60.7"

4. References

Page updated April 26, 2004

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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