GLSA 200403-05: UUDeview MIME Buffer Overflow

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	UUDeview MIME Buffer Overflow
Date:	03/26/2004
Bugs:	#44859
ID:	200403-05

Synopsis

A specially-crafted MIME file (.mim, .uue, .uu, .b64, .bhx, .hqx, and .xxe extensions) may cause UUDeview to crash or execute arbitrary code.

Background

UUDeview is a program which is used to transmit binary files over the Internet in a text-only format. It is commonly used for email and Usenet attachments. It supports multiple encoding formats, including Base64, BinHex and UUEncoding.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
app-text/uudeview	< 0.5.20	>= 0.5.20	All supported architectures

Description

By decoding a MIME archive with excessively long strings for various parameters, it is possible to crash UUDeview, or cause it to execute arbitrary code.

This vulnerability was originally reported by iDEFENSE as part of a WinZip advisory [ Reference: 1 ].

Impact

An attacker could create a specially-crafted MIME file and send it via email. When recipient decodes the file, UUDeview may execute arbitrary code which is embedded in the MIME file, thus granting the attacker access to the recipient's account.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time. As a result, a software upgrade is required and users should upgrade to uudeview 0.5.20.

Resolution

All users should upgrade to uudeview 0.5.20:

    # emerge sync
    # emerge -pv ">=app-text/uudeview-0.5.20"
    # emerge ">=app-text/uudeview-0.5.20"

References

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200403-05.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.