enscript: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code

Background

enscript is a powerful ASCII to PostScript file converter.

Description

Two stack-based buffer overflows in the read_special_escape() function in src/psgen.c have been reported. Ulf Harnhammar of Secunia Research discovered a vulnerability related to the “setfilename” command (CVE-2008-3863), and Kees Cook of Ubuntu discovered a vulnerability related to the “font” escape sequence (CVE-2008-4306).

Impact

An attacker could entice a user or automated system to process specially crafted input with the special escapes processing enabled using the “-e” option, possibly resulting in the execution of arbitrary code.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All enscript users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=app-text/enscript-1.6.4-r4"