Axel: Vulnerability in HTTP redirection handling — GLSA 200504-09

A buffer overflow vulnerability has been found in Axel which could lead to the execution of arbitrary code.

Affected packages

net-misc/axel on all architectures
Affected versions < 1.0b
Unaffected versions >= 1.0b

Background

Axel is a console-based FTP/HTTP download accelerator.

Description

A possible buffer overflow has been reported in the HTTP redirection handling code in conn.c.

Impact

A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by setting up a malicious site and enticing a user to connect to it. This could possibly lead to the execution of arbitrary code with the permissions of the user running Axel.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Axel users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-misc/axel-1.0b"

References

Release date
April 12, 2005

Latest revision
April 12, 2005: 01

Severity
normal

Exploitable
remote

Bugzilla entries