Third-party Applications Using GSS-API May Be Vulnerable to Compromise

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Third-party Applications Using GSS-API May Be Vulnerable to Compromise

1. Impact

Third-party applications which utilize GSS-API and thus link to the Generic Security Services library libgss(3LIB), may allow an unauthenticated user (local or remote depending on the application) the ability to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the application.

Note: Exploitation of this vulnerability is believed to be difficult. No exploit code is known to exist at this time.

This issue is referenced in the following documents:

MITKRB5-SA-2006-003 - MIT krb5 Security Advisory 2006-003 at:

http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/advisories/MITKRB5-SA-2006-003-mechglue.txt

CVE-2006-6144 at http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2006-6144

CERT VU#831452 at http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/831452

2. Contributing Factors

This issue can occur in the following releases:

SPARC Platform

• Solaris 8 without patch 109223-11
• Solaris 9 without patch 112908-35
  
• Solaris 10 without patch 141719-01

x86 Platform

• Solaris 8 without patch 109224-11
• Solaris 9 without patch 115168-20
  
• Solaris 10 without patch 141720-01

Notes:

1. Solaris 8 entered EOSL Phase 2 on 1 April 2009. Entitlement to patches developed on or after 1 April 2009 requires the purchase of the Solaris 8 Vintage Patch Service. See note in section 5 for more details.
   
2. This issue only affects applications which link against the Generic Security Services library libgss(3LIB).
3. No applications shipped by Sun, including kadmind(1M), are affected by this issue.

To determine if an application is linked against libgss(3LIB) the following command can be run:

    $ ldd application | grep libgss || echo "application not affected"

If output similar to the following is seen:

    libgss.so.1 => /usr/lib/libgss.so.1

then the application links to libgss(3LIB) and may be affected by this issue.

A comprehensive test to check if an application links with a library such as libgss(3LIB) requires the use of pldd(1) against the running application since ldd(1) does not list any shared objects explicitly attached using dlopen(3C). For example:

$ pldd <procces ID of application> | grep libgss
/usr/lib/libgss.so.1

3. Symptoms

There are no reliable symptoms that would indicate this issue has been exploited to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges on a system.

4. Workaround

There is no workaround for this issue. Please see the Resolution section below.

5. Resolution

This issue is addressed in the following releases:

SPARC Platform

• Solaris 8 with patch 109223-11 or later
  
• Solaris 9 with patch 112908-35 or later
• Solaris 10 with patch 141719-01 or later
  

x86 Platform

• Solaris 8 with patch 109224-11 or later
• Solaris 9 with patch 115168-20 or later
• Solaris 10 with patch 141720-01 or later

Note: The READMEs of Solaris 8 patches developed on or after 1 April 2009 are available to all customers. However, Solaris 8 entered EOSL Phase 2 on April 1, 2009 and thus entitlement for these patches, including those that fix security vulnerabilities, requires the purchase of the Solaris 8 Vintage Patch Service. More information about the Solaris 8 Vintage Patch Service is available at:

http://www.sun.com/service/eosl/Solaris8.html

For more information on Security Sun Alerts, see Technical Instruction ID 213557.

This Sun Alert notification is being provided to you on an "AS IS" basis. This Sun Alert notification may contain information provided by third parties. The issues described in this Sun Alert notification may or may not impact your system(s). Sun makes no representations, warranties, or guarantees as to the information contained herein. ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. BY ACCESSING THIS DOCUMENT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SUN SHALL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT ARISE OUT OF YOUR USE OR FAILURE TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. This Sun Alert notification contains Sun proprietary and confidential information. It is being provided to you pursuant to the provisions of your agreement to purchase services from Sun, or, if you do not have such an agreement, the Sun.com Terms of Use. This Sun Alert notification may only be used for the purposes contemplated by these agreements.

Copyright 2000-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, CA 95054 U.S.A. All rights reserved.

Modification History

10-Jan-2007: Updated Impact statement and URL
14-May-2009: Updated Contributing Factors and Resolution sections
20-May-2009: Updated Contributing Factors and Resolution sections
05-Jun-2009: Updated Contributing Factors and Resolution sections; Resolved

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