Vulnerability Note VU#180692

Apple Mac OS X AFP server vulnerable to DoS via maliciously-crafted AFP request

Overview

A vulnerability in the Apple Mac OS X AFP server may allow an attacker to cause a denial-of-service condition on an affected system.

I. Description

The AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) service allows Apple Mac OS clients to access files remotely from a server. Apple's Mac OS X AFP server contains an unchecked error condition. When file sharing is enabled, a remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted invalid AFP request. This crafted AFP request may cause the service to crash, resulting in a denial-of-service condition. Apple states that any Mac OS X system with AFP server enabled is vulnerable; however, AFP server is not enabled by default on Apple Mac OS X.

II. Impact

When file sharing is enabled, a maliciously crafted AFP request may cause the AFP server to crash, resulting in a denial-of-service condition.

III. Solution

Apply an update

Apple has addressed this issue in Security Update 2006-004.
Workaround

Disable file sharing if it is not required. File sharing can be disabled in the "Sharing" settings of system preferences.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Apple Computer, Inc.	Vulnerable	4-Aug-2006

References

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304063
http://secunia.com/advisories/21253/

Credit

Thanks to Apple Product Security for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Katie Washok.

Other Information

Date Public:	2006-08-01
Date First Published:	2006-08-04
Date Last Updated:	2006-09-18
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CVE-2006-3496
NVD-ID(s):	CVE-2006-3496
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Severity Metric:	0.81
Document Revision:	21

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Produced 2006 by US-CERT, a government organization
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