1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory
| Advisory Reference | GLSA 200804-16 / rsync |
| Release Date | April 17, 2008 |
| Latest Revision | April 17, 2008: 01 |
| Impact | high |
| Exploitable | remote |
| Package | Vulnerable versions | Unaffected versions | Architecture(s) |
| net-misc/rsync | < 2.6.9-r6 | >= 2.6.9-r6 | All supported architectures |
Related bugreports: #216887
A buffer overflow in rsync might lead to the remote execution of arbitrary code when extended attributes are being used.
rsync is a file transfer program to keep remote directories synchronized.
Sebastian Krahmer of SUSE reported an integer overflow in the expand_item_list() function in the file util.c which might lead to a heap-based buffer overflow when extended attribute (xattr) support is enabled.
A remote attacker could send a file containing specially crafted extended attributes to an rsync deamon, or entice a user to sync from an rsync server containing specially crafted files, possibly leading to the execution of arbitrary code.
Please note that extended attributes are only enabled when USE="acl" is enabled, which is the default setting.
Disable extended attributes in the rsync daemon by setting "refuse options = xattrs" in the file "/etc/rsyncd.conf" (or append "xattrs" to an existing "refuse" statement). When synchronizing to a server, do not provide the "-X" parameter to rsync. You can also disable the "acl" USE flag for rsync and recompile the package.
All rsync users should upgrade to the latest version:
Code Listing 3.1: Resolution |
# emerge --sync # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-misc/rsync-2.6.9-r6" |