Sun Solaris sadmind buffer overflow in amsl_verify when requesting NETMGT_PROC_SERVICE

Overview

The sadmind program can be used to perform distributed system administration operations remotely using RPC. A stack buffer overflow in sadmind may be exploited by a remote attacker to execute arbitrary instructions and gain root access.

Description

The sadmind program is installed by default in Solaris 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.6, and 7. In Solaris 2.3 and 2.4, sadmind may be installed if the Sun Solstice Adminsuite packages are installed. The sadmind program is installed in /usr/sbin and can be used to coordinate distributed system administration operations remotely. The sadmind daemon is started automatically by the inetd daemon whenever a request to perform a system administration operation is received.

All versions of sadmind are vulnerable to a buffer overflow that can overwrite the stack pointer within a running sadmind process. Since sadmind is installed as root, it is possible to execute arbitrary code with root privileges on a remote machine.

This vulnerability has been discussed in public security forums and is actively being exploited by intruders.

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Impact

A remote user may be able to execute arbitrary code with root privileges on systems running vulnerable versions of sadmind.

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Solution

From Sun Security Bulletin #00191:

Sun announces the release of patches for Solaris™ 7, 2.6, 2.5.1,
2.5, 2.4, and 2.3 (SunOS™ 5.7, 5.6, 5.5.1, 5.5, 5.4 and 5.3), which
relate to a vulnerability with sadmind.

Sun recommends that you install the patches listed in section 4
immediately on systems running SunOS 5.7, 5.6, 5.5.1, and 5.5 and
on systems with Solstice AdminSuite (AdminSuite) installed. If you have
installed a version of AdminSuite prior to version 2.3, please upgrade
to AdminSuite 2.3 before installing the AdminSuite patches listed in
section 4.

Sun also recommends that you:

- disable sadmind if you do not use it by commenting the
following line in /etc/inetd.conf:

100232/10 tli rpc/udp wait root /usr/sbin/sadmind sadmind

- set the security level used to authenticate requests to STRONG
as follows, if you use sadmind:

100232/10 tli rpc/udp wait root /usr/sbin/sadmind sadmind -S 2

The above changes to /etc/inetd.conf will take effect after inetd
receives a hang-up signal.

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Another workaround to prevent remote intruders from accessing any vulnerable RPC services is to block all access to ports 111/{tcp,udp} at your site’s network perimeter.

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Vendor Information

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Sun __ Affected

Notified: December 13, 1999 Updated: May 07, 2001

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

Please see Sun Security Bulletin #191. An excerpt is provided below.

Vendor Information

The vendor has not provided us with any further information regarding this vulnerability.

Addendum

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Sun Microsystems, Inc. Security Bulletin

Bulletin Number: #00191
Date: December 29, 1999
Cross-Ref: CERT CA-99-16
Title: sadmind

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The information contained in this Security Bulletin is provided “AS IS.”
Sun makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect to the information
contained in this Security Bulletin. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS,
REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF NON-INFRINGEMENT OR
IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE
HEREBY DISCLAIMED AND EXCLUDED TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

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PROFIT OR DATA, OR FOR DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL
OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY
ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN
THIS SECURITY BULLETIN, EVEN IF SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF
THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

If any of the above provisions are held to be in violation of applicable law,
void, or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, then such provisions are waived
to the extent necessary for this disclaimer to be otherwise enforceable in
such jurisdiction.

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1. Bulletins Topics

Sun announces the release of patches for Solaris™ 7, 2.6, 2.5.1,
2.5, 2.4, and 2.3 (SunOS™ 5.7, 5.6, 5.5.1, 5.5, 5.4 and 5.3), which
relate to a vulnerability with sadmind.

Sun recommends that you install the patches listed in section 4
immediately on systems running SunOS 5.7, 5.6, 5.5.1, and 5.5 and
on systems with Solstice AdminSuite (AdminSuite) installed. If you have
installed a version of AdminSuite prior to version 2.3, please upgrade
to AdminSuite 2.3 before installing the AdminSuite patches listed in
section 4.

Sun also recommends that you:

- disable sadmind if you do not use it by commenting the
following line in /etc/inetd.conf:

100232/10 tli rpc/udp wait root /usr/sbin/sadmind sadmind

- set the security level used to authenticate requests to STRONG
as follows, if you use sadmind:

100232/10 tli rpc/udp wait root /usr/sbin/sadmind sadmind -S 2

The above changes to /etc/inetd.conf will take effect after inetd
receives a hang-up signal.

2. Who is Affected

Vulnerable: SunOS 5.7, 5.7_x86, 5.6, 5.6_x86, 5.5.1, 5.5.1_x86,
5.5, 5.5_x86, and
5.4, 5.4_x86, and 5.3 with AdminSuite installed

Not vulnerable: All other supported versions of SunOS.

3. Understanding the Vulnerability

The sadmind program is installed by default on SunOS 5.7, 5.6, 5.5.1,
and 5.5. In SunOS 5.4 and 5.3, sadmind may be installed if the
Solstice AdminSuite packages are installed. The sadmind program
is installed in /usr/sbin. The program can be used to perform
distributed system administration operations remotely. A buffer overflow
vulnerability has been discovered in sadmind which may be exploited by
a remote attacker to execute arbitrary instructions and gain root access.

4. List of Patches

The following patches are available in relation to the above problem.

OS Version Patch ID

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SunOS 5.7 108662-01
SunOS 5.7_x86 108663-01
SunOS 5.6 108660-01
SunOS 5.6_x86 108661-01
SunOS 5.5.1 108658-01
SunOS 5.5.1_x86 108659-01
SunOS 5.5 108656-01
SunOS 5.5_x86 108657-01

AdminSuite Version Patch ID

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2.3 104468-18 (see Note)
2.3_x86 104469-18 (see Note)

Note: Install patch if AdminSuite is installed. AdminSuite may be
installed on SunOS 5.7, 5.6, 5.5.1, 5.5, 5.4 or 5.3.

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Sun acknowledges, with thanks, Stanford University and the CERT Coordination
Center for their assistance in this matter.

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APPENDICES

A. Patches listed in this bulletin are available to all Sun customers at:

http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/show.pl?target=patches/patch-license&nav=pub-patches

B. Checksums for the patches listed in this bulletin are available at:

<ftp://sunsolve.sun.com/pub/patches/CHECKSUMS&gt;

C. Sun security bulletins are available at:

<http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/secBulletin.pl&gt;

D. Sun Security Coordination Team’s PGP key is available at:

<http://sunsolve.sun.com/pgpkey.txt&gt;

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Command Information Returned/Action Taken

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Copyright 1999 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun,
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References

[http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/retrieve.pl?doctype=coll&amp;doc=secbull/191&amp;type=0&amp;nav=sec.sba ](<http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/retrieve.pl?doctype=coll&doc=secbull/191&type=0&nav=sec.sba >)

Acknowledgements

This document was written by Jeff S Havrilla.

Other Information

CVE IDs:	CVE-1999-0977
CERT Advisory:	CA-1999-16 Severity Metric: