Linux Advisory Watch – February 6, 2004

This week, advisories were released
for perl, crawl, kernel, cvs, tcpdump, ethereal, mksnap_ffs, gaim, NetPBM, and
mc. The distributors include Debian, Fedora, FreeBSD, Mandrake, and Red Hat.

We all love the Web, but
there are parts of it that annoy us all. Pop-ups! Pop-ups! Endless banners!
Did I mention pop-ups? At this point, most of us have found ways to manage it.
However, we are always looking for something more effective.

On Monday, a new version
of Privoxy (http://www.privoxy.org) was
released. Privoxy is an open source project that begin with a software package
called Internet Juckbuster and quickly forked into its own project with the
first stable release version 3.0 in August 2002. Privoxy is a Web-based proxy
engine with filtering capabilities that help protect an individual’s privacy.
The Privoxy engine can performs tasks such as modifying Web content, cookie
management, and removing banner & pop-up ads.

The most recent release of Privoxy
is 3.0.3. After installation, it can be configured quickly and easily. Most
questions can be cleared up by referencing section 4 (Quickstart), and section
2 (Installation) of the Privoxy User Manual.

Unlike many small GPL projects,
the Privoxy team is well organized. For those wishing to modify or make improvements
to the software, a developer’s manual is available. This manual includes information
on how to establish a connection to the CVS repository, comment requirements,
naming conventions, testing guidelines, and many other areas of useful information.
This document could prove to be very useful.

Privoxy is available for a number
of different Linux distributions and operating systems. Those using Red Hat,
Conectiva, Debian, SuSE, and Gentoo will have no trouble installing it. Binary
packages are also available for Mac OS X, Windows, OS/2, and several flavors
of BSD.

More information about
Privoxy and the latest releases can be found at the following URL: http://www.privoxy.org

Until next time, cheers!
Benjamin D. Thomas

 

LinuxSecurity
Feature Extras:

Introduction
to Netwox and Interview with Creator Laurent Constantin
– In this article Duane Dunston gives a brief introduction to Netwox, a combination
of over 130 network auditing tools. Also, Duane interviews Laurent Constantin,
the creator of Netwox.

Managing
Linux Security Effectively in 2004
– This article examines the process of proper Linux security management in
2004. First, a system should be hardened and patched. Next, a security routine
should be established to ensure that all new vulnerabilities are addressed.
Linux security should be treated as an evolving process.

FEATURE:
OSVDB – An Independent and Open Source Vulnerability Database
– This article outlines the origins, purpose, and future of the Open Source
Vulnerability Database project. Also, we talk to with Tyler Owen, a major
contributor.

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Advisory Watch ] – [ Linux
Security Week ] – [ PacketStorm
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Distribution:			Debian
	2/2/2004	perl
		Information leak An attacker could abuse suidperl to discover information about files that should not be accessible to unprivileged users. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/debian_advisory-3986.html
	2/3/2004	crawl
		Buffer overflow vulnerability The program applies an unchecked-length environment variable into a fixed size buffer. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/debian_advisory-3994.html
	2/4/2004	kernel
		Privilage escalation MIPS patch Integer overflow in the do_brk() function of the Linux kernel allows local users to gain root privileges. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/debian_advisory-3996.html
Distribution:			Fedora
	2/2/2004	cvs
		Multiple vulnerabilities Vulnerabilities allow cvs to write to root filesystem and retain root privileges. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/fedora_advisory-3987.html
	2/3/2004	tcpdump
		Malformed packet vulnerability If the victim uses tcpdump, attack could result in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code as the ‘pcap’ user. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/fedora_advisory-3992.html
	2/3/2004	ethereal
		Denial of service vulnerability Multiple security vulnerabilities may allow attackers to make Ethereal crash using intentionally malformed packets. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/fedora_advisory-3993.html
Distribution:			FreeBSD
	1/30/2004	mksnap_ffs
		Improper option clearing Possible consequences an include disabling extended access control lists or enabling the use of setuid executables stored on an untrusted filesystem. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/freebsd_advisory-3985.html
Distribution:			Mandrake
	2/2/2004	gaim
		Multiple vulernabilities Multiple buffer overflows exist in gaim 0.75 and earlier. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/mandrake_advisory-3988.html
Distribution:			Red Hat
	2/3/2004	NetPBM
		Temporary file vulnerabilities A number of temporary file bugs have been found in versions of NetPBM. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/redhat_advisory-3989.html
	2/3/2004	mc
		Buffer overflow vulnerability A buffer overflow allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code during symlink conversion. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/redhat_advisory-3990.html
	2/3/2004	util-linux Login data leakage
		Buffer overflow vulnerability In some situations, the login program could use a pointer that had been freed and reallocated. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/redhat_advisory-3991.html
	2/3/2004	kernel
		Multiple vulnerabilities Updated kernel packages are now available that fix a few security issues. http://www.linuxsecurity.com/advisories/redhat_advisory-3995.html