RSI.0011.11-12-98.AIX.INFOD



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                   Repent Security Incorporated, RSI
                       [ http://www.repsec.com ]


                       *** RSI ALERT ADVISORY ***


--- [CREDIT] --------------------------------------------------------------

Andrew Green: Discovered the vulnerability
Mark Zielinski: Author of the advisory

--- [SUMMARY] -------------------------------------------------------------

Announced:     November 09, 1998
Report code:   RSI.0011.11-12-98.AIX.INFOD
Report title:  AIX infod

Vulnerability: Please see the details section
Vendor status: AIX contacted on November 12, 1998
Patch status:  IBM is currently working on several fixes

Platforms:     AIX 3.2.x, 4.1.x, 4.2.x, 4.3.x

Reference:     http://www.repsec.com/advisories.html
Impact:        If exploited, an attacker could potentially compromise
               root access locally on your server

--- [DETAILS] -------------------------------------------------------------

Description:   The Info Explorer daemon is a AIX utility which is used
               to provide documentation for the operating system and
               associated programs.

Problem:       The info daemon does not perform any validation on information
               passed to the local socket that it is bound to.  Users on the
               system can send false information to the daemon and trick
               it into spawning a connection to the intruders X display.

Details:       By sending a UID and GID of 0, along with a false environment,
               infod will be forced into spawning a connection with root
               privileges to the intruder's X display.

               Once the program appears on the screen, they can goto
               the default options menu and change the printer command
               line to an alternate binary such as /bin/sh that gives
               privileges to the account the session was spawned under.


--- [FIX] -----------------------------------------------------------------

Solution:      IBM is currently working on the following fixes which will be
               available soon:

                  AIX 3.2.x:  upgrade to version 4
                  AIX 4.1.x:  IX84640
                  AIX 4.2.x:  IX84641
                  AIX 4.3.x:  IX84642

               Until the fixes can be applied, the infod daemon should be disabled.
               Run the following commands as root:

                  # stopsrc -s infod
                  # rmitab infod
                  # chown root.system /usr/lpp/info/bin/infod
                  # chmod 0 /usr/lpp/info/bin/infod


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Repent Security Incorporated (RSI)
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Suite #10-326
Scottsdale, AZ 85254

E-Mail: advise@repsec.com
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Copyright November 1998 RepSec, Inc.

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