GLSA 200810-01: WordNet: Execution of arbitrary code

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	WordNet: Execution of arbitrary code
Date:	10/07/2008
Bugs:	#211491
ID:	200810-01

Synopsis

Multiple vulnerabilities were found in WordNet, possibly allowing for the execution of arbitrary code.

Background

WordNet is a large lexical database of English.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
app-dicts/wordnet	< 3.0-r2	>= 3.0-r2	All supported architectures

Description

Jukka Ruohonen initially reported a boundary error within the searchwn() function in src/wn.c. A thorough investigation by the oCERT team revealed several other vulnerabilities in WordNet:

Jukka Ruohonen and Rob Holland (oCERT) reported multiple boundary errors within the searchwn() function in src/wn.c, the wngrep() function in lib/search.c, the morphstr() and morphword() functions in lib/morph.c, and the getindex() in lib/search.c, which lead to stack-based buffer overflows.
Rob Holland (oCERT) reported two boundary errors within the do_init() function in lib/morph.c, which lead to stack-based buffer overflows via specially crafted "WNSEARCHDIR" or "WNHOME" environment variables.
Rob Holland (oCERT) reported multiple boundary errors in the bin_search() and bin_search_key() functions in binsrch.c, which lead to stack-based buffer overflows via specially crafted data files.
Rob Holland (oCERT) reported a boundary error within the parse_index() function in lib/search.c, which leads to a heap-based buffer overflow via specially crafted data files.

Impact

In case the application is accessible e.g. via a web server, a remote attacker could pass overly long strings as arguments to the "wm" binary, possibly leading to the execution of arbitrary code.
A local attacker could exploit the second vulnerability via specially crafted "WNSEARCHDIR" or "WNHOME" environment variables, possibly leading to the execution of arbitrary code with escalated privileges.
A local attacker could exploit the third and fourth vulnerability by making the application use specially crafted data files, possibly leading to the execution of arbitrary code.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All WordNet users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-dicts/wordnet-3.0-r2"

References

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200810-01.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.