FTE fails to properly validate command line arguments

Overview

FTE contains a vulnerability in the processing of command line arguments that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.

Description

FTE is a text editor available for a variety of operating systems. There is a buffer overflow vulnerability in the way FTE performs bounds checking on command line arguments. By supplying an overly long string of characters as a command line argument, a local user could execute arbitrary code on the system with privileges of the FTE process. Typically, FTE is installed with setuid root privileges.

---

Impact

A local user could execute arbitrary code with privileges of the FTE process.

---

Solution

Upgrade

Upgrade to the latest version of FTE as specified by your vendor.

---

Vendor Information

354838

Filter by status: All Affected Not Affected Unknown

Filter by content: __ Additional information available

__ Sort by: Status Alphabetical

Expand all

Javascript is disabled. Click here to view vendors.

Debian __ Affected

Updated: April 15, 2004

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

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

Addendum

Please refer to Debian Security Advisory DSA 472-1.

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us [email](<mailto:[email protected]?Subject=VU%23354838 Feedback>).

CVSS Metrics

Group	Score	Vector
Base
Temporal
Environmental

References

• <http://shellcode.org/Advisories/FTE.txt&gt;
• <http://fte.sourceforge.net/&gt;
• <http://secunia.com/advisories/11290/&gt;
• <http://xforce.iss.net/xforce/xfdb/15726&gt;
• <http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/10041&gt;
• <http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-472&gt;
• <http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=203871&gt;

Acknowledgements

This vulnerability was reported by Steve Kemp.

This document was written by Damon Morda.

Other Information

CVE IDs:	CVE-2003-0648
Severity Metric:	10.69 Date Public: