AWStats: Remote code execution

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200501-36 / awstats
Release Date	January 25, 2005
Latest Revision	May 28, 2009: 04
Impact	high
Exploitable	remote

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
www-misc/awstats	< 6.3-r2	>= 6.3-r2	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #77963, #81775

Synopsis

AWStats fails to validate certain input, which could lead to the remote execution of arbitrary code or to the leak of information.

2. Impact Information

Background

AWStats is an advanced log file analyzer and statistics generator.

Description

When 'awstats.pl' is run as a CGI script, it fails to validate specific inputs which are used in a Perl open() function call. Furthermore, a user could read log file content even when plugin rawlog was not enabled.

Impact

A remote attacker could supply AWStats malicious input, potentially allowing the execution of arbitrary code with the rights of the web server. He could also access raw log contents.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

Making sure that AWStats does not run as a CGI script will avoid the issue, but we recommend that users upgrade to the latest version, which fixes these bugs.

Resolution

All AWStats users should upgrade to the latest version:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=www-misc/awstats-6.3-r2"

Note: Users with the vhosts USE flag set should manually use webapp-config to finalize the update.

4. References

Page updated January 25, 2005

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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