Buffer Overflow in Firebird — GLSA 200405-18

A buffer overflow via environmental variables in Firebird may allow a local user to manipulate or destroy local databases and trojan the Firebird binaries.

Affected packages

Package	dev-db/firebird on all architectures
Affected versions	< 1.5
Unaffected versions	>= 1.5

Background

Firebird is an open source relational database that runs on Linux, Windows, and various UNIX systems.

Description

A buffer overflow exists in three Firebird binaries (gds_inet_server, gds_lock_mgr, and gds_drop) that is exploitable by setting a large value to the INTERBASE environment variable.

Impact

An attacker could control program execution, allowing privilege escalation to the UID of Firebird, full access to Firebird databases, and trojaning the Firebird binaries. An attacker could use this to compromise other user or root accounts.

Workaround

There is no known workaround.

Resolution

All users should upgrade to the latest version of Firebird:

 # emerge sync
 
 # emerge -pv ">=dev-db/firebird-1.5"
 # emerge ">=dev-db/firebird-1.5"

References

Release date
May 23, 2004

Latest revision
May 22, 2006: 02

Severity
high

Exploitable
local

Bugzilla entries

20837