gdb: Multiple vulnerabilities

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200505-15 / gdb
Release Date	May 20, 2005
Latest Revision	May 22, 2006: 02
Impact	normal
Exploitable	local

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
sys-devel/gdb	< 6.3-r3	>= 6.3-r3	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #88398, #91398, #91654

Synopsis

Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in the GNU debugger, potentially allowing the execution of arbitrary code.

2. Impact Information

Background

gdb is the GNU project's debugger, facilitating the analysis and debugging of applications. The BFD library provides a uniform method of accessing a variety of object file formats.

Description

Tavis Ormandy of the Gentoo Linux Security Audit Team discovered an integer overflow in the BFD library, resulting in a heap overflow. A review also showed that by default, gdb insecurely sources initialisation files from the working directory.

Impact

Successful exploitation would result in the execution of arbitrary code on loading a specially crafted object file or the execution of arbitrary commands.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All gdb users should upgrade to the latest stable version:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=sys-devel/gdb-6.3-r3"

4. References

Updated May 20, 2005

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Security Team
Contact Address

Donate to support our development efforts.