GLSA 200712-03 GNU Emacs: Multiple vulnerabilities

Posted by Bob on: 12/09/2007 09:15 PM [ Print | 0 comment(s) ]

A new security update has been released for Gentoo Linux - GNU Emacs: Multiple vulnerabilities. Here the announcement:

Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200712-03
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http://security.gentoo.org/
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Severity: Normal
Title: GNU Emacs: Multiple vulnerabilities
Date: December 09, 2007
Bugs: #197958, #200297
ID: 200712-03

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Synopsis
========

Two vulnerabilities were found in GNU Emacs possibly leading to the
execution of arbitrary code.

Background
==========

GNU Emacs is a highly extensible and customizable text editor.

Affected packages
=================

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 app-editors/emacs lt; 22.1-r3 gt;= 22.1-r3
*gt;= 21.4-r14
lt; 19

Description
===========

Drake Wilson reported that the hack-local-variables() function in GNU
Emacs 22 does not properly match assignments of local variables in a
file against a list of unsafe or risky variables, allowing to override
them (CVE-2007-5795). Andreas Schwab (SUSE) discovered a stack-based
buffer overflow in the format function when handling values with high
precision (CVE-2007-6109).

Impact
======

Remote attackers could entice a user to open a specially crafted file
in GNU Emacs, possibly leading to the execution of arbitrary Emacs Lisp
code (via CVE-2007-5795) or arbitrary code (via CVE-2007-6109) with the
privileges of the user running GNU Emacs.

Workaround
==========

The first vulnerability can be worked around by setting the
"enable-local-variables" option to "nil", disabling the processing of
local variable lists. GNU Emacs prior to version 22 is not affected by
this vulnerability. There is no known workaround for the second
vulnerability at this time.

Resolution
==========

All GNU Emacs users should upgrade to the latest version:

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose "gt;=app-editors/emacs-22.1-r3"

References
==========

[ 1 ] CVE-2007-5795
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2007-5795
[ 2 ] CVE-2007-6109
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2007-6109

Availability
============

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at
the Gentoo Security Website:

http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200712-03.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
http://bugs.gentoo.org.

License
=======

Copyright 2007 Gentoo Foundation, Inc; referenced text
belongs to its owner(s).

The contents of this document are licensed under the
Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike license.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5