Vulnerability Note VU#900964

FTE fails to properly validate environment variables

Overview

FTE contains a vulnerability in the processing of certain environment variables that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.

I. Description

FTE is a text editor available for a variety of operating systems. There is a buffer overflow vulnerability in the way FTE performs bounds checking on certain environment variables. By supplying an overly long string of characters for the HOME or TERM environment variable, a local user could execute arbitrary code on the system with privileges of the FTE process. Typically, FTE is installed with setuid root privileges.

II. Impact

A local user could execute arbitrary code with privileges of the FTE process.

III. Solution

Upgrade

Upgrade to the latest version of FTE as specified by your vendor.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Updated
Debian	Vulnerable	16-Apr-2004

References

http://shellcode.org/Advisories/FTE.txt
http://fte.sourceforge.net/
http://secunia.com/advisories/11290/
http://xforce.iss.net/xforce/xfdb/15726
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/10041
http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-472
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=203871

Credit

This vulnerability was reported by Steve Kemp.

This document was written by Damon Morda.

Other Information

Date Public	04/03/2004
Date First Published	04/16/2004 09:16:36 AM
Date Last Updated	04/16/2004
CERT Advisory
CVE Name	CAN-2003-0648
US-CERT Technical Alerts
Metric	10.69
Document Revision	3

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

Get Adobe Reader