Vulnerability Note VU#451275

Curses library vulnerable to buffer overflow

Overview

The curses library derived from System V contains a buffer overflow. A local user can execute a command that uses this library to exploit the vulnerability and gain elevated privileges.

I. Description

There is a buffer overflow in the curses library that could permit a local user to gain elevated privileges. Various commands will call on the libcurses library to get the term settings either from the environment variable TERM, or a command line argument.

II. Impact

A local user can gain elevated privileges.

III. Solution

Apply the appropriate patch from your vendor. See our "Systems Affected" section below.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified
Hewlett Packard	Not Vulnerable	27-Aug-2001
SCO	Vulnerable	6-Aug-2001
SGI	Vulnerable	8-Aug-2001
Sun	Vulnerable	9-Aug-2001

References

VU#138523 VU#126025
http://www.securitytracker.com/alerts/2001/Jun/1001825.html

Credit

This vulnerability was discovered by Kevin Finisterre <dotslash@snosoft.com> and was reported to the vuln-dev@securityfocus.com mailing list. Caldera/SCO has also released an advisory (CSSA-2001-SCO.1).

This document was written by Jason Rafail.

Other Information

Date Public:	2001-06-13
Date First Published:	2001-07-27
Date Last Updated:	2001-09-17
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):
NVD-ID(s):
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	0.72
Document Revision:	20

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