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IBM SECURITY ADVISORY

First Issued: Wed Feb 12 11:00:00 CST 2003

===========================================================================
VULNERABILITY SUMMARY

VULNERABILITY: libIM.a buffer overflow vulnerability.

PLATFORMS: AIX 4.3, 5.1 and 5.2

SOLUTION: Apply the efix or APARs as described below.

THREAT: A local attacker can exploit a buffer overflow
vulnerability to execute arbitrary code.

CERT VU Number: n/a

CAN Number: CAN-2003-0087

                       DETAILED INFORMATION

I. Description

AIX provides support for National Language Support (NLS). Many AIX
applications support a variety of languages. Users may determine
which language an application uses via command line arguments or,
as is more often the case, via environment variables.

A buffer overflow vulnerability has been found in a system library
used by NLS, libIM, that allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code
with the privileges of the application that calls the library.

II. Impact

A local attacker can execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the
application using libIM. If the application is setuid root, an attacker will
be able to execute arbitrary code with root privileges.

III. Solutions

A. Official Fix
IBM provides the following fixes:

  APAR number for AIX 4.3.3: IY40307 (available approx. 03/12/2003)
  APAR number for AIX 5.1.0: IY40317 (available approx. 04/28/2003)
  APAR number for AIX 5.2.0: IY40320 (available approx. 04/28/2003)

NOTE: Fixes will not be provided for versions prior to 4.3 as
these are no longer supported by IBM. Affected customers are
urged to upgrade to 4.3.3 or 5.1.0 at the latest maintenance level.

B. E-fix
Temporary fixes for AIX 4.3.3, 5.1.0, and 5.2.0 systems are available.

The temporary fixes can be downloaded via ftp from:

 ftp://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/security/libIM_efix.tar.Z

The efix compressed tarball contains three fixes: one each for
AIX 4.3.3, AIX 5.1.0 and AIX 5.2.0. It also includes this advisory
and a README file with installation instructions.

Verify you have retrieved this efix intact:

---

There are 3 fix-files in this package for the 4.3.3, 5.1.0, 5.2.0
releases. The checksums below were generated using the "sum" and
"md5" commands and are as follows:

Filename sum md5

libIM.a.433 22101 67 16f015c19f72671859eb88823d3640f5
libIM.a.510 41339 66 79c64e9e73de01cc0b4b0220fa8eb557
libIM.a.520 18991 65 e0ca1983b358007b5ea277972838b952

These sums should match exactly; if they do not, double check the
command results and the download site address. If those are OK,
contact IBM AIX Security at [email protected] and describe
the discrepancy.

IMPORTANT: Create a mksysb backup of the system and verify it is
both bootable, and readable before proceeding.

These temporary fixes have not been fully regression tested; thus,
IBM does not warrant the fully correct functioning of the efix.
Customers install the efix and operate the modified version of AIX
at their own risk.

Efix Installation Instructions:

---

Detailed installation instructions can be found in the README file
supplied in the efix package. These instructions are summarized below.

You need to have the following filesets installed:

For AIX 4.3.3:
bos.rte.im.4.3.3.76

For AIX 5.1.0:
bos.rte.im.5.1.0.35

For AIX 5.2.0:
bos.rte.im.5.2.0.0

You can determine which fileset is installed by executing
the following:

lslpp -L bos.rte.im

If bos.rte.im is not installed, the system is not vulnerable.

1. Create a temporary efix directory and move to that directory.

   mkdir /tmp/efix

   cd /tmp/efix

2. Uncompress the efix and un-tar the resulting tarfile. Move to the
   fix directory. This step assumes the compressed efix tarball is in
   /tmp/efix.

   uncompress libIM_efix.tar.Z

   tar xvf libIM_efix.tar

   cd libIM_efix

3. Rename the patched binary files appropriate for your system and set
   ownership and permissions.

   mv libIM.a.xxx libIM.a # where xxx is 433, 510 or 520

   chown bin.bin libIM.a

   chmod 444 libIM.a

4. Test the efix. This step is strongly recommended but not required.

   a. Export the environment variable LIBPATH to point to the new
   copy of libIM.a.

   export LIBPATH=/tmp/efix/libIM_efix

   b. Execute aixterm since it uses libIM.

   slibclean

   aixterm

   Note: To launch aixterm, the machine being patched must be able
   to connect to a X Server so that it can display the aixterm
   window.

   c. If aixterm did not start, execute the following command
   and discontinue installation of this efix:

   unset LIBPATH

   This will allow your system to use the original libIM.a.

5. Install the efix.
   a. Create a backup copy of original binary. Remove all
   permissions from the backup copy.

   cd /usr/ccs/lib/

   cp libIM.a libIM.a.orig

   chmod 0 libIM.a.orig

   b. Export the environment variable LIBPATH to point to the new
   copy of libIM.a. This is very important because it will allow
   your system to locate a copy of libIM.a if needed during the
   patch process.

   export LIBPATH=/tmp/efix/libIM_efix

   c. Remove the original library.

   rm /usr/ccs/lib/libIM.a

   d. Replace the current system library with the patched versions.
   Use the -p option to preserve the file permissions set in
   step 3.

   cp -p /tmp/efix/libIM_efix/libIM.a /usr/ccs/lib/libIM.a

   e. Unset the LIBPATH environment variable.

   unset LIBPATH

6. Remove any copies of the old libIM.a from memory.

   slibclean

IV. Obtaining Fixes

IBM AIX APARs may be ordered using Electronic Fix Distribution (via the
FixDist program), or from the IBM Support Center. For more information
on FixDist, and to obtain fixes via the Internet, please reference

    http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/rs6k/fixes.html

or send email to "[email protected]" with the word "FixDist" in the
"Subject:" line.

AIX APARs may also be downloaded from the web from the following URLs.

For 4.3.3 APARs:
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/rs6k/fixdb.html

For 5.1.0 APARs:
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/aix.fdc

For 5.2.0 APARs:
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/aix.fdc

To facilitate ease of ordering all security related APARs for each AIX
release, security fixes are periodically bundled into a cumulative APAR.
For more information on these cumulative APARs including last update and
list of individual fixes, send email to "[email protected]" with
the word "subscribe Security_APARs" in the "Subject:" line.

V. Acknowledgments

The AIX Security Team would like to thank iDEFENSE for bringing this issue
to our attention.

This document was written by Shiva Persaud.

VI. Contact Information

Comments regarding the content of this announcement can be directed to:

[email protected]

To request the PGP public key that can be used to encrypt new AIX
security vulnerabilities, send email to [email protected]
with a subject of "get key".

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"help".

IBM and AIX are a registered trademark of International Business
Machines Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their
respective holders.
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