GLSA 200606-25: Hashcash: Possible heap overflow

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	high
Title:	Hashcash: Possible heap overflow
Date:	06/26/2006
Bugs:	#134960
ID:	200606-25

Synopsis

A heap overflow vulnerability in the Hashcash utility could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.

Background

Hashcash is a utility for generating Hashcash tokens, a proof-of-work system to reduce the impact of spam.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
net-misc/hashcash	< 1.21	>= 1.21	All supported architectures

Description

Andreas Seltenreich has reported a possible heap overflow in the array_push() function in hashcash.c, as a result of an incorrect amount of allocated memory for the "ARRAY" structure.

Impact

By sending malicious entries to the Hashcash utility, an attacker may be able to cause an overflow, potentially resulting in the execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the application.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Hashcash users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-misc/hashcash-1.21"

References

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200606-25.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.