An aspell update has been released for Gentoo Linux

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200406-14
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://security.gentoo.org/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Severity: Normal
Title: aspell: Buffer overflow in word-list-compress
Date: June 17, 2004
Bugs: #53389
ID: 200406-14

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Synopsis
=======

A bug in the aspell utility word-list-compress can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.



Background
=========

aspell is a popular spell-checker. Dictionaries are available for many languages.

Affected packages
================

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 app-text/aspell = 0.50.5-r2

Description
==========

aspell includes a utility for handling wordlists called word-list-compress. This utility fails to do proper bounds checking when processing words longer than 256 bytes.

Impact
=====

If an attacker could entice a user to handle a wordlist containing very long word lengths it could result in the execution of arbitrary code with the permissions of the user running the program.

Workaround
=========

There is no known workaround at this time. All users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest available version.

Resolution
=========

All users should upgrade to the latest available version of aspell.

# emerge sync

# emerge -pv ">=app-text/aspell-0.50.5-r2"
# emerge ">=app-text/aspell-0.50.5-r2"

References
=========

[ 1 ] Nettwerked Advisory
http://nettwerked.mg2.org/advisories/wlc

Availability
===========

This GLSA and any updates to it are available for viewing at the Gentoo Security Website:

http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200406-14.xml

Concerns?
========

Security is a primary focus of Gentoo Linux and ensuring the confidentiality and security of our users machines is of utmost importance to us. Any security concerns should be addressed to security@gentoo.org or alternatively, you may file a bug at http://bugs.gentoo.org.

License
======

Copyright 2004 Gentoo Technologies, Inc; referenced text belongs to its owner(s).

The contents of this document are licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike license.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0