Security Vulnerabilities in PostgreSQL Shipped with Solaris may Allow a Denial of Service (DoS) or Privilege Escalation

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Security vulnerabilities affecting the PostgreSQL software:

1. Impact

Security vulnerabilities affecting the PostgreSQL software shipped with Solaris may allow an authenticated PostgreSQL user to cause a denial of service (DoS) to the PostgreSQL server by "re-LOAD-ing" libraries from a certain plugins directory. However, the PostgreSQL versions shipped with Solaris do not include any plugins. In addition, an issue with the privileges for RESET ROLE and RESET SESSION AUTHORIZATION operations may allow any authenticated users to gain extra privileges.

These issues are described in the following documents:

Official PostgreSQL announcement at: http://www.postgresql.org/about/news.1135
CVE-2009-3229 at: http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-3229
CVE-2009-3230 at: http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-3230

Note: PostgreSQL is not compiled with LDAP support on Solaris. Solaris is not affected with CVE-2009-3231.

2. Contributing Factors

This issue can occur in the following releases:

SPARC Platform

• Solaris 10 (6/06 or later) PostgreSQL 8.1 without patch 123590-11
  
• Solaris 10 (8/07 or later) PostgreSQL 8.2 without patch 136998-07
  
• Solaris 10 (10/08 or later) PostgreSQL 8.3 without patch 138826-05
• OpenSolaris PostgreSQL 8.1 based upon builds snv_35 through snv_109
• OpenSolaris PostgreSQL 8.2 based upon builds snv_56 through snv_124
• OpenSolaris PostgreSQL 8.3 based upon builds snv_87 through snv_124
  

x86 Platform

• Solaris 10 (6/06 or later) PostgreSQL 8.1 without patch 123591-11
  
• Solaris 10 (8/07 or later) PostgreSQL 8.2 without patch 136999-07
• Solaris 10 (10/08 or later) PostgreSQL 8.3 without patch 138827-05
• OpenSolaris PostgreSQL 8.1 based upon builds snv_35 through snv_109
• OpenSolaris PostgreSQL 8.2 based upon builds snv_56 through snv_124
• OpenSolaris PostgreSQL 8.3 based upon builds snv_87 through snv_124
  

Note 1: Solaris 8 and Solaris 9 do not ship with PostgreSQL and are thus not impacted by this issue.

Note 2: A user exploiting this vulnerability must have an account on the PostgreSQL server.

Note 3: The issues described in CVE-2009-3229 affects PostgreSQL versions 8.2.x prior to 8.2.14, 8.3.x prior to 8.3.8, and versions 8.4.x prior to 8.4.1.

Note 4: The issues described in CVE-2009-3230 affects PostgreSQL 7.4.x prior to 7.4.26, 8.0.x prior to 8.0.22, 8.1.x prior to 8.1.18, 8.2.x prior to 8.2.14, 8.3.x prior to 8.3.8, and versions 8.4.x  prior to 8.4.1.

Note 5: PostgreSQL 8.1 (SUNWpostgr), 8.2 (packages beginning with SUNWpostgr-82) and 8.3 (packages beginning with SUNWpostgr-83)  can be installed at the same time and are separately impacted by these vulnerabilities.

Note 6: Only systems with PostgreSQL plugins installed are impacted by CVE-2009-3229 issue.

To determine if there are any  plugins installed, execute the following command:

for PostgreSQL 8.2:

    $ ls -l /usr/postgres/8.2/lib/plugins
    /usr/postgres/8.2/lib/plugins: No such file or directory
    $ ls -l /usr/postgres/8.2/lib/64/plugins
    /usr/postgres/8.2/lib/64/plugins: No such file or directory

for PostgreSQL 8.3:

    $ ls -l /usr/postgres/8.3/lib/plugins
    /usr/postgres/8.3/lib/plugins: No such file or directory
    $ ls -l /usr/postgres/8.3/lib/64/plugins
    /usr/postgres/8.3/lib/64/plugins: No such file or directory

To determine if a version of PostgreSQL is installed, the following command can be used:

    $ pkginfo | grep SUNWpostgr
    system      SUNWpostgr             PostgreSQL 8.1.9 client programs and libraries
    system      SUNWpostgr-82-client   PostgreSQL 8.2 client tools

To determine if PostgreSQL is running on a server, the following command can be run as the user "postgres" (or the "root" user):

for PostgreSQL 8.1:

    $ pg_ctl status -D /var/lib/pgsql/data/
    pg_ctl: neither postmaster nor postgres running

for PostgreSQL 8.2:

    $ /usr/postgres/8.2/bin/pg_ctl status -D /var/postgres/8.2/data/
    pg_ctl: server is running (PID: 395)

for PostgreSQL 8.3:

    $ /usr/postgres/8.3/bin/pg_ctl status -D /var/postgres/8.3/data/
    pg_ctl: server is running (PID: 395)

or (where applicable):

    $ svcs -a | grep postgresql
    disabled       17:12:37 svc:/application/database/postgresql_83:default_32bit
    disabled       17:12:37 svc:/application/database/postgresql:version_82
    disabled       17:12:37 svc:/application/database/postgresql:version_82_64bit
    online         17:13:05 svc:/application/database/postgresql_83:default_64bit

3. Symptoms

If the described issue has been exploited to cause a Denial of Service (DoS), the postgres(1) process may crash, potentially leaving a core file.

4. Workaround

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

5. Resolution

This issue is addressed in the following releases:

SPARC Platform

• Solaris 10 (6/06 or later) PostgreSQL 8.1 with patch 123590-11 or later
  
• Solaris 10 (8/07 or later) PostgreSQL 8.2 with patch 136998-07 or later
  
• Solaris 10 (10/08 or later) PostgreSQL 8.3 with patch 138826-05 or later
  
• OpenSolaris PostgreSQL 8.2 based upon builds snv_125 or later
  
• OpenSolaris PostgreSQL 8.3 based upon builds snv_125 or later
  

x86 Platform

• Solaris 10 (6/06 or later) PostgreSQL 8.1 with patch 123591-11 or later
  
• Solaris 10 (8/07 or later) PostgreSQL 8.2 with patch 136999-07 or later
  
• Solaris 10 (10/08 or later) PostgreSQL 8.3 with patch 138827-05 or later
  
• OpenSolaris PostgreSQL 8.2 based upon builds snv_125 or later
  
• OpenSolaris PostgreSQL 8.3 based upon builds snv_125 or later

Note: PostgreSQL 8.1 was removed from snv_110 onwards.

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

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Modification History

02-Nov-2009: Updated Contributing Factors and Resolution sections. Resolved.

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