HylaFAX: Remote code exploit in hylafax

Background

HylaFAX is a popular client-server fax package.

Description

During a code review of the hfaxd server, the SuSE Security Team discovered a format bug condition that allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code as the root user. However, the bug cannot be triggered in the default hylafax configuration.

Impact

A remote attacker could execute arbitrary code with root privileges.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

Users are encouraged to perform an ‘emerge sync’ and upgrade the package to the latest available version. Vulnerable versions of hylafax have been removed from portage. Specific steps to upgrade:

 # emerge sync
 # emerge -pv '>=net-misc/hylafax-4.1.8'
 # emerge '>=net-misc/hylafax-4.1.8'
 # emerge clean