Gentoo 2508 Published by

A gaim security update has been released for Gentoo Linux

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200505-09
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://security.gentoo.org/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Severity: High
Title: Gaim: Denial of Service and buffer overflow vulnerabilties
Date: May 12, 2005
Bugs: #91862
ID: 200505-09

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

Synopsis
=======

Gaim contains two vulnerabilities, potentially resulting in the execution of arbitrary code or Denial of Service.



Background
=========

Gaim is a full featured instant messaging client which handles a variety of instant messaging protocols.

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

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Package / Vulnerable / Unaffected
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 net-im/gaim < 1.3.0 >= 1.3.0

Description
==========

Stu Tomlinson discovered that Gaim is vulnerable to a remote stack based buffer overflow when receiving messages in certain protocols, like Jabber and SILC, with a very long URL (CAN-2005-1261). Siebe Tolsma discovered that Gaim is also vulnerable to a remote Denial of Service attack when receiving a specially crafted MSN message (CAN-2005-1262).

Impact
=====

A remote attacker could cause a buffer overflow by sending an instant message with a very long URL, potentially leading to the execution of malicious code. By sending a SLP message with an empty body, a remote attacker could cause a Denial of Service or crash of the Gaim client.

Workaround
=========

There are no known workarounds at this time.

Resolution
=========

All Gaim users should upgrade to the latest version:

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-im/gaim-1.3.0"

References
=========

[ 1 ] CAN-2005-1261
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2005-1261
[ 2 ] CAN-2005-1262
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2005-1262

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

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

http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200505-09.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 2005 Gentoo Foundation, 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/2.0