Vulnerability Note VU#352825

GNU gv buffer overflow vulnerability

Original Release date: 28 Nov 2006 | Last revised: 01 Dec 2006

Overview

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the GNU gv viewer application. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, or cause a denial-of-service condition.

Description

From the GNU gv website:

    GNU gv allows to view and navigate through PostScript and PDF documents on an X display by providing a user interface for the ghostscript interpreter.
    gv is a improved derivation of Timothy O. Theisen's Ghostview developed by Johannes Plass.

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the GNU gv viewer. An attacker may be able to trigger the overflow by convincing a user to open a specially-crafted PostScript file.

Note that GNU gv is maintained and packaged by many vendors. Please see the systems affected portion of this document for a list of vendors who distribute GNU gv.

Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute code with the privileges of the user running GNU gv.

Solution

Upgrade
Apply an upgrade. See the systems affected portion of this document for information about specific vendors.


Do not execute GNU gv with root privileges

Using a non-privileged user account to launch GNU gv may mitigate the impact of this vulnerability.

Systems Affected (Learn More)

VendorStatusDate NotifiedDate Updated
Debian GNU/LinuxAffected-28 Nov 2006
Gentoo LinuxAffected28 Nov 200629 Nov 2006
Juniper Networks, Inc.Not Affected28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
Microsoft CorporationNot Affected28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
NetBSDNot Affected28 Nov 200629 Nov 2006
Openwall GNU/*/LinuxNot Affected28 Nov 200601 Dec 2006
Apple Computer, Inc.Unknown28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
Conectiva Inc.Unknown28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
Cray Inc.Unknown28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
EMC, Inc. (formerly Data General Corporation)Unknown28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
Engarde Secure LinuxUnknown28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
F5 Networks, Inc.Unknown28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
Fedora ProjectUnknown28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
FreeBSD, Inc.Unknown28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
FujitsuUnknown28 Nov 200628 Nov 2006
If you are a vendor and your product is affected, let us know.View More »

CVSS Metrics (Learn More)

Group Score Vector
Base N/A N/A
Temporal N/A N/A
Environmental N/A N/A

References

Credit

This vulnerability was publicly reported by Renaud Lifchitz.

This document was written by Ryan Giobbi.

Other Information

  • CVE IDs: CVE-2006-5864
  • Date Public: 09 Nov 2006
  • Date First Published: 28 Nov 2006
  • Date Last Updated: 01 Dec 2006
  • Severity Metric: 0.10
  • Document Revision: 34

Feedback

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