GLSA 200810-01 WordNet: Execution of arbitrary code

Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200810-01
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http://security.gentoo.org/
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Severity: Normal
Title: WordNet: Execution of arbitrary code
Date: October 07, 2008
Bugs: #211491
ID: 200810-01

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Synopsis
========

Multiple vulnerabilities were found in WordNet, possibly allowing for
the execution of arbitrary code.

Background
==========

WordNet is a large lexical database of English.

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

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 app-dicts/wordnet lt; 3.0-r2 gt;= 3.0-r2

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

Jukka Ruohonen initially reported a boundary error within the
searchwn() function in src/wn.c. A thorough investigation by the oCERT
team revealed several other vulnerabilities in WordNet:

* Jukka Ruohonen and Rob Holland (oCERT) reported multiple boundary
errors within the searchwn() function in src/wn.c, the wngrep()
function in lib/search.c, the morphstr() and morphword() functions in
lib/morph.c, and the getindex() in lib/search.c, which lead to
stack-based buffer overflows.

* Rob Holland (oCERT) reported two boundary errors within the
do_init() function in lib/morph.c, which lead to stack-based buffer
overflows via specially crafted "WNSEARCHDIR" or "WNHOME" environment
variables.

* Rob Holland (oCERT) reported multiple boundary errors in the
bin_search() and bin_search_key() functions in binsrch.c, which lead
to stack-based buffer overflows via specially crafted data files.

* Rob Holland (oCERT) reported a boundary error within the
parse_index() function in lib/search.c, which leads to a heap-based
buffer overflow via specially crafted data files.

Impact
======

* In case the application is accessible e.g. via a web server, a
remote attacker could pass overly long strings as arguments to the
"wm" binary, possibly leading to the execution of arbitrary code.

* A local attacker could exploit the second vulnerability via
specially crafted "WNSEARCHDIR" or "WNHOME" environment variables,
possibly leading to the execution of arbitrary code with escalated
privileges.

* A local attacker could exploit the third and fourth vulnerability
by making the application use specially crafted data files, possibly
leading to the execution of arbitrary code.

Workaround
==========

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution
==========

All WordNet users should upgrade to the latest version:

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose "gt;=app-dicts/wordnet-3.0-r2"

References
==========

[ 1 ] CVE-2008-2149
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-2149
[ 2 ] CVE-2008-3908
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-3908

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

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

http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200810-01.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 2008 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