GLSA 200502-20: Emacs, XEmacs: Format string vulnerabilities in movemail

http://security.gentoo.org/

Severity:	normal
Title:	Emacs, XEmacs: Format string vulnerabilities in movemail
Date:	02/15/2005
Bugs:	#79686
ID:	200502-20

Synopsis

The movemail utility shipped with Emacs and XEmacs contains several format string vulnerabilities, potentially leading to the execution of arbitrary code.

Background

GNU Emacs and XEmacs are highly extensible and customizable text editors. movemail is an Emacs utility that can fetch mail on remote mail servers.

Affected packages

Package	Vulnerable	Unaffected	Architecture(s)
app-editors/emacs	< 21.4	>= 21.4	All supported architectures
app-editors/xemacs	< 21.4.15-r3	>= 21.4.15-r3	All supported architectures

Description

Max Vozeler discovered that the movemail utility contains several format string errors.

Impact

An attacker could set up a malicious POP server and entice a user to connect to it using movemail, resulting in the execution of arbitrary code with the rights of the victim user.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Emacs users should upgrade to the latest version:

    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-editors/emacs-21.4"

All XEmacs users should upgrade to the latest version:


    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-editors/xemacs-21.4.15-r3"

References

CAN-2005-0100

Availability

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website: http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200502-20.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.