Vulnerability Note VU#399883

Linux groff utility pic contains format string vulnerability

Overview

The pic component of the image processing package groff contains a format string vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code.

I. Description

groff is an image processing package on Linux systems. A component of groff called pic contains a format-string vulnerability that can be exploited to execute arbitrary code. Since groff and pic are used by lpd to render documents for printing, an attacker can craft a printer spool file to execute arbitrary code on an lpd print server.

II. Impact

Remote attackers can cause execution of arbitrary code.

III. Solution

Apply a patch or upgrade

Apply a patch or upgrade as appropriate. See the Systems Affected section for more details.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified
Apple Computer Inc.	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
Conectiva	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
Cray Inc.	Not Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
Data General	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
Debian	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
FreeBSD	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
Fujitsu	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
Guardian Digital Inc.	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
Hewlett-Packard Company	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
IBM	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
MandrakeSoft	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
MontaVista Software	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
NEC Corporation	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
NetBSD	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
OpenBSD	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
Openwall GNU/*/Linux	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
Red Hat Inc.	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
SCO	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
Sequent	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
SGI	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
Sony Corporation	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
Sun Microsystems Inc.	Not Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
SuSE Inc.	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
Trustix	Vulnerable	28-Oct-2003
Unisys	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
Wind River Systems Inc.	Unknown	27-Oct-2003
Wirex	Unknown	27-Oct-2003

References

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/3103

Credit

Thanks to zen-parse for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Shawn Van Ittersum and Art Manion.

Other Information

Date Public:	2001-07-26
Date First Published:	2003-10-27
Date Last Updated:	2003-10-28
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CVE-2001-1022
NVD-ID(s):	CVE-2001-1022
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	10.80
Document Revision:	13

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.

Get Adobe Reader