Cyrus-SASL: Execution of arbitrary code — GLSA 200907-09

A buffer overflow in Cyrus-SASL might allow for the execution of arbitrary code in applications or daemons that authenticate using SASL.

Affected packages

Package	dev-libs/cyrus-sasl on all architectures
Affected versions	< 2.1.23
Unaffected versions	>= 2.1.23

Background

Cyrus-SASL is an implementation of the Simple Authentication and Security Layer.

Description

James Ralston reported that in certain situations, Cyrus-SASL does not properly terminate strings which can result in buffer overflows when performing Base64 encoding.

Impact

A remote unauthenticated user might send specially crafted packets to a daemon using Cyrus-SASL, possibly resulting in the execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the daemon or a Denial of Service.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Cyrus-SASL users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-libs/cyrus-sasl-2.1.23"

References

CVE-2009-0688

Release date
July 12, 2009

Latest revision
July 12, 2009: 01

Severity
high

Exploitable
remote

Bugzilla entries

270261