Sylpheed, Claws Mail: User-assisted remote execution of arbitrary code

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200710-29 / sylpheed claws-mail
Release Date	October 25, 2007
Latest Revision	October 25, 2007: 01
Impact	normal
Exploitable	remote

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
mail-client/sylpheed	< 2.4.5	>= 2.4.5	All supported architectures
mail-client/claws-mail	< 3.0.0	>= 3.0.0	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #190104

Synopsis

A format string error has been discovered in Sylpheed and Claws Mail, potentially leading to the remote execution of arbitrary code.

2. Impact Information

Background

Sylpheed and Claws Mail are two GTK based e-mail clients.

Description

Ulf Harnhammar from Secunia Research discovered a format string error in the inc_put_error() function in file src/inc.c.

Impact

A remote attacker could entice a user to connect to a malicious POP server sending specially crafted replies, possibly resulting in the execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the application.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Sylpheed users should upgrade to the latest version:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=mail-client/sylpheed-2.4.5"

All Claws Mail users should upgrade to the latest version:

Code Listing 3.2: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=mail-client/claws-mail-3.0.0"

4. References

CVE-2007-2958

Page updated October 25, 2007

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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