-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ============================================================================= FreeBSD-SA-00:29 Security Advisory FreeBSD, Inc. Topic: wu-ftpd port contains remote root compromise [REVISED] Category: ports Module: wu-ftpd Announced: 2000-07-05 Revised: 2000-07-11 Credits: tf8 Affects: Ports collection. Corrected: 2000-06-24 Vendor status: Contacted FreeBSD only: NO I. Background wu-ftpd is a popular FTP server. II. Problem Description The wu-ftpd port, versions 2.6.0 and below, contains a vulnerability which allows FTP users, both anonymous FTP users and those with a valid account, to execute arbitrary code as root on the local machine, by inserting string-formatting operators into command input, which are incorrectly parsed by the FTP server. The wu-ftpd port is not installed by default, nor is it "part of FreeBSD" as such: it is part of the FreeBSD ports collection, which contains over 3500 third-party applications in a ready-to-install format. The ports collections shipped with FreeBSD 3.5 and 4.0 contains this problem since it was discovered after the release. FreeBSD makes no claim about the security of these third-party applications, although an effort is underway to provide a security audit of the most security-critical ports. III. Impact FTP users, including anonymous FTP users, can cause arbitrary commands to be executed as root on the local machine. If you have not chosen to install the wu-ftpd port/package, then your system is not vulnerable to this problem. IV. Workaround Deinstall the wu-ftpd port/package, if you you have installed it. V. Solution One of the following: 1) Upgrade your entire ports collection and rebuild the wu-ftpd port. 2) Deinstall the old package and install a new package dated after the correction date, obtained from: ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-3-stable/ftp/wu-ftpd-2.6.0.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-4-stable/ftp/wu-ftpd-2.6.0.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-4-stable/ftp/wu-ftpd-2.6.0.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-5-current/ftp/wu-ftpd-2.6.0.tgz ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/alpha/packages-5-current/ftp/wu-ftpd-2.6.0.tgz NOTE: It may be several days before updated packages are available. Be sure to check the file creation date on the package, because the version number of the software has not changed. 3) download a new port skeleton for the wu-ftpd port from: http://www.freebsd.org/ports/ and use it to rebuild the port. 4) Use the portcheckout utility to automate option (3) above. The portcheckout port is available in /usr/ports/devel/portcheckout or the package can be obtained from: ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/packages/devel/portcheckout-1.0.tgz VI. Revision History v1.0 2000-07-05 Initial release v1.1 2000-07-11 Clarify that vulnerability affects all FTP users, not just anonymous FTP. Correct URL of package. Update size of ports collection. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBOWuZzVUuHi5z0oilAQH+bgQAhpYzJ0xiU787xQFr/YnOJHe0k/CJiDOU yrfyvGq4Grl4F/czojsyRTd5DwQzBKqIYm1H/z73gxI6nbEe0KaP+omfpzaAy7iK pLyQJ5qbjQLuc54ed+gV1+lH84QkuMHzUygj5iqvjn91uAA5nMKEMnGbESZz3J4J NjYmA1EfXbI= =T7IG -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----