GLSA 200408-12: Gaim: MSN protocol parsing function buffer overflow

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	Gaim: MSN protocol parsing function buffer overflow
Date:	08/12/2004
Bugs:	#60034
ID:	200408-12

Synopsis

Gaim contains a remotely exploitable buffer overflow vulnerability in the MSN-protocol parsing code that may allow remote execution of arbitrary code.

Background

Gaim is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for Linux which supports many instant messaging protocols.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
net-im/gaim	<= 0.81	>= 0.81-r1	All supported architectures

Description

Sebastian Krahmer of the SuSE Security Team has discovered a remotely exploitable buffer overflow vulnerability in the code handling MSN protocol parsing.

Impact

By sending a carefully-crafted message, an attacker may execute arbitrary code with the permissions of the user running Gaim.

Workaround

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

Resolution

All Gaim users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge sync
    
    # emerge -pv ">=net-im/gaim-0.81-r1"
    # emerge ">=net-im/gaim-0.81-r1"

References

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200408-12.xml

Concerns?

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at https://bugs.gentoo.org.