Axel: Vulnerability in HTTP redirection handling

Background

Axel is a console-based FTP/HTTP download accelerator.

Description

A possible buffer overflow has been reported in the HTTP redirection handling code in conn.c.

Impact

A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by setting up a malicious site and enticing a user to connect to it. This could possibly lead to the execution of arbitrary code with the permissions of the user running Axel.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Axel users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-misc/axel-1.0b"