aix-infod.txt

`RSI.0011.11-12-98.AIX.INFOD  
  
  
  
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Repent Security Incorporated, RSI  
[ http://www.repsec.com ]  
  
  
*** RSI ALERT ADVISORY ***  
  
  
--- [CREDIT] --------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Andrew Green: Discovered the vulnerability  
Mark Zielinski: Author of the advisory  
  
--- [SUMMARY] -------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Announced: November 09, 1998  
Report code: RSI.0011.11-12-98.AIX.INFOD  
Report title: AIX infod  
  
Vulnerability: Please see the details section  
Vendor status: AIX contacted on November 12, 1998  
Patch status: IBM is currently working on several fixes  
  
Platforms: AIX 3.2.x, 4.1.x, 4.2.x, 4.3.x  
  
Reference: http://www.repsec.com/advisories.html  
Impact: If exploited, an attacker could potentially compromise  
root access locally on your server  
  
--- [DETAILS] -------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Description: The Info Explorer daemon is a AIX utility which is used  
to provide documentation for the operating system and  
associated programs.  
  
Problem: The info daemon does not perform any validation on information  
passed to the local socket that it is bound to. Users on the  
system can send false information to the daemon and trick  
it into spawning a connection to the intruders X display.  
  
Details: By sending a UID and GID of 0, along with a false environment,  
infod will be forced into spawning a connection with root  
privileges to the intruder's X display.  
  
Once the program appears on the screen, they can goto  
the default options menu and change the printer command  
line to an alternate binary such as /bin/sh that gives  
privileges to the account the session was spawned under.  
  
  
--- [FIX] -----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Solution: IBM is currently working on the following fixes which will be  
available soon:  
  
AIX 3.2.x: upgrade to version 4  
AIX 4.1.x: IX84640  
AIX 4.2.x: IX84641  
AIX 4.3.x: IX84642  
  
Until the fixes can be applied, the infod daemon should be disabled.  
Run the following commands as root:  
  
# stopsrc -s infod  
# rmitab infod  
# chown root.system /usr/lpp/info/bin/infod  
# chmod 0 /usr/lpp/info/bin/infod  
  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Repent Security Incorporated (RSI)  
13610 N. Scottsdale Rd.  
Suite #10-326  
Scottsdale, AZ 85254  
  
E-Mail: [email protected]  
FTP: ftp://ftp.repsec.com  
WWW: http://www.repsec.com  
  
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Copyright November 1998 RepSec, Inc.  
  
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