aspell: Buffer overflow in word-list-compress

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200406-14 / aspell
Release Date	June 17, 2004
Latest Revision	May 22, 2006: 03
Impact	normal
Exploitable	local

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
app-text/aspell	<= 0.50.5-r3	>= 0.50.5-r4	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #53389

Synopsis

A bug in the aspell utility word-list-compress can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.

2. Impact Information

Background

aspell is a popular spell-checker. Dictionaries are available for many languages.

Description

aspell includes a utility for handling wordlists called word-list-compress. This utility fails to do proper bounds checking when processing words longer than 256 bytes.

Impact

If an attacker could entice a user to handle a wordlist containing very long word lengths it could result in the execution of arbitrary code with the permissions of the user running the program.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

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

Resolution

All users should upgrade to the latest available version of aspell.

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge sync

# emerge -pv ">=app-text/aspell-0.50.5-r4"
# emerge ">=app-text/aspell-0.50.5-r4"

4. References

Page updated June 17, 2004

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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