(RHSA-2003:087) file security update

The file command is used to identify a particular file according to
the type of data contained by the file.

The file utility before version 3.41 contains a buffer overflow
vulnerability in the ELF parsing routines. This vulnerability may
allow an attacker to create a carefully crafted binary which can cause
arbitrary code to run if a victim runs the file command against that
binary.

On some distributions it may also be possible to trigger this file command
vulnerability by encouraging the victim to use the
less command on an exploited file name so that it will be processed by the
lesspipe.sh script.

All users are advised to update to these erratum packages which
contain a backported patch to correct this vulnerability.

Red Hat would like to thank iDefense for disclosing this issue and
zen-parse for discussion of some of the implications.