Updated telnet packages that fix two buffer overflow vulnerabilities are now available.
The telnet package provides a command line telnet client. The telnet-server package includes a telnet daemon, telnetd, that supports remote login to the host machine.
2. Relevant releases/architectures:
Red Hat Linux 7.3 - i386 Red Hat Linux 9 - i386 Fedora Core 1 - i386
3. Problem description:
Two buffer overflow flaws were discovered in the way the telnet client handles messages from a server. An attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code on a victim's machine if the victim can be tricked into connecting to a malicious telnet server. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CAN-2005-0468 and CAN-2005-0469 to these issues.
Users of telnet should upgrade to this updated package, which contains backported patches to correct these issues.
4. Solution:
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied.
To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:
rpm -Fvh [filenames]
where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade. Only those RPMs which are currently installed will be updated. Those RPMs which are not installed but included in the list will not be updated. Note that you can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the desired RPMs.
Please note that this update is also available via yum and apt. Many people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use yum issue:
yum update
or to use apt:
apt-get update; apt-get upgrade
This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate RPMs being upgraded on your system. This assumes that you have yum or apt-get configured for obtaining Fedora Legacy content. Please visit http://www.fedoralegacy.org/docs for directions on how to configure yum and apt-get.