-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ============================================================================= FreeBSD-SA-00:63 Security Advisory FreeBSD, Inc. Topic: getnameinfo function allows remote denial of service Category: core Module: libc Announced: 2000-11-01 Credits: Pavel Kankovsky Affects: FreeBSD 4.x (all releases prior to 4.2), 4.1.1-STABLE prior to the correction date. Corrected: 2000/09/25 (FreeBSD 4.1.1-STABLE) FreeBSD only: NO I. Background The getnameinfo() function is part of the protocol-independent resolver library from the KAME project. II. Problem Description An off-by-one error exists in the processing of DNS hostnames which allows a long DNS hostname to crash the getnameinfo() function when an address resolution of the hostname is performed (e.g. in response to a connection to a service which makes use of getnameinfo()). Under the following conditions, this bug can be used as a denial of service attack against vulnerable services: * The attacker must control their DNS server. * The service must be run as a persistent daemon (i.e. running "standalone", not spawned as-needed from a supervisor process such as inetd) * The daemon must perform the getnameinfo() call on the remote hostname prior to forking a child process to handle the connection (otherwise it is just the child process which dies, and the parent remains running). * The daemon is not automatically restarted by a "watchdog" process. All released versions of FreeBSD 4.x prior to the correction date including 4.0, 4.1, and 4.1.1 are vulnerable to this problem, but it was fixed in the 4.1.1-STABLE branch prior to the release of FreeBSD 4.2-RELEASE. The FreeBSD 3.x branch is unaffected since it does not include the KAME code. Note that this vulnerability is not believed to pose a vulnerability for any servers included in the FreeBSD base system. It is only a potential problem for certain third party servers fulfilling the above conditions (none of which are currently known). Therefore the impact on the vast majority of FreeBSD systems is expected to be nonexistent. III. Impact Remote users may be able to cause a very small class of network servers to terminate abnormally, causing a denial of service condition. IV. Workaround None practical. V. Solution One of the following: 1) Upgrade your vulnerable FreeBSD 4.x system to 4.1.1-STABLE after the correction date. 2) Apply the patch below and recompile the relevant files: Either save this advisory to a file, or download the patch and detached PGP signature from the following locations, and verify the signature using your PGP utility. ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/patches/SA-00:63/getnameinfo.patch ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/patches/SA-00:63/getnameinfo.patch.asc Execute the following commands as root: # cd /usr/src/lib/libc # patch -p < /path/to/patch_or_advisory # make depend && make all install Patch for vulnerable systems: --- net/getnameinfo.c 2000/07/05 05:09:17 1.5 +++ net/getnameinfo.c 2000/09/25 23:04:36 1.6 @@ -154,12 +153,12 @@ (flags & NI_DGRAM) ? "udp" : "tcp"); } if (sp) { - if (strlen(sp->s_name) > servlen) + if (strlen(sp->s_name) + 1 > servlen) return ENI_MEMORY; strcpy(serv, sp->s_name); } else { snprintf(numserv, sizeof(numserv), "%d", ntohs(port)); - if (strlen(numserv) > servlen) + if (strlen(numserv) + 1 > servlen) return ENI_MEMORY; strcpy(serv, numserv); } @@ -253,7 +252,7 @@ *p = '\0'; } #endif - if (strlen(hp->h_name) > hostlen) { + if (strlen(hp->h_name) + 1 > hostlen) { freehostent(hp); return ENI_MEMORY; } -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (FreeBSD) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iQCVAwUBOgCgVlUuHi5z0oilAQGqfwP/SYLG0yD0uR4wdPHy5S9eXH4HqtNrVpF7 NlN3iMjHrzIDqeFSYoRTbMEhrbTTGMWYIEadadW9zjlnHfGNRniYx2oOhm+0tqsI C3wlqsGAo2GXsXfr1hOpcVc1GqLhsK3oLgz9RRMoMlRWJ+K0bHHLwKlB9uEoxPJ2 X/WHJ//RQXI= =YFwv -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----