Newspost: Buffer overflow vulnerability

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200502-05 / newspost
Release Date	February 03, 2005
Latest Revision	February 21, 2005: 02
Impact	normal
Exploitable	remote

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
net-nntp/newspost	< 2.1.1-r1	revision >= 2.0-r1, >= 2.1.1-r1	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #78530

Synopsis

A buffer overflow can be exploited to crash Newspost remotely and potentially execute arbitrary code.

2. Impact Information

Background

Newspost is a Usenet News binary autoposter.

Description

Niels Heinen has discovered a buffer overflow in the socket_getline() function of Newspost, which can be triggered by providing long strings that do not end with a newline character.

Impact

A remote attacker could setup a malicious NNTP server and entice a Newspost user to post to it, leading to the crash of the Newspost process and potentially the execution of arbitrary code with the rights of the Newspost user.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Newspost users should upgrade to the latest version:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-nntp/newspost-2.0-r1"

4. References

CAN-2005-0101

Updated February 03, 2005

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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