“BOMBAY (Reuters) – Personal computer (PC) sales in India will rise 5 percent to 7 percent this year and by 15 percent to 20 percent percent in 2003, a local consultancy forecast, rebounding from a fall last year and outpacing global growth predictions.” Read it at siliconvalley.com.

This article isn’t from some little Linux-only Web site. It’s in The Washington Post. It begins, “Microsoft Corp. is aggressively lobbying the Pentagon to squelch its growing use of freely distributed computer software and switch to proprietary systems such as those sold by the software giant, according to officials familiar with the campaign.” Read all the way to the end, please. Then, if you live in the U.S., send a copy to your congressional representatives and tell them what you think.

Linux and Main: “KDE 3.01 was quietly placed on the master KDE ftp site Tuesday. Source code, as well as binaries for Gentoo, SuSE, Mandrake, Connectiva, and Tru64 platforms are currently available… A formal announcement and full changelog is expected from KDE developers shortly.” Read more here.

VNUNet: “After bowing to consumer pressure once again, Sony today released a Linux kit for the PlayStation2 in Europe… But the firm does hope that Linux hobbyists who tinker with the PlayStation will be encouraged to become games designers for the platform, and hopes to use interest in the kit to recruit an army of PlayStation developers.” Read more here.

“This HOW-TO specifically details how to create a dual boot system using Redhat Linux 7.2 and Windows XP with a NTFS file system using the GRUB boot
loader.”The Problem: The problem was stumbled upon after I successfully persuaded my Windows XP-using-friend to install Redhat Linux 7.2 onto the empty end of
his hard drive. “Sure.” I tell him, “dual booting will be no problem!” A few days later he calls me up frustrated saying that he can no longer access
his Windows XP operating system….”

LinuxDevices.com: “If Linux is truly going to revolutionize the embedded systems market, it’s going to do so on its own terms, and the embedded systems market needs to adapt to those terms, not the other way around. I believe that the companies that can adapt in time will not only be spared the ravages of the revolution, but will emerge as the new leaders…”

IT-Director.com: “There have been rumblings about the fact that the new version of StarOffice costs money. Anybody who has managed to get their hands on a copy should agree, however, that this is a product that is worth every penny.” Check out the rest of this article here.

SuSE: “A remote exploitable format string vulnerability was found in the logging routines of the dynamic DNS code of dhcpd. This vulnerability allows an attacker, usually within the LAN served by the DHCP server, to get remote root access to the host running dhcpd.”

____________________________________________________________________________

                        SuSE Security Announcement

        Package:                dhcp/dhcp-server
        Announcement-ID:        SuSE-SA:2002:019
        Date:                   Wednesday, May 22th 2002 13:30 MEST
        Affected products:      7.2, 7.3, 8.0
                                SuSE Linux Database Server
                                SuSE eMail Server III
                                SuSE Linux Enterprise Server for S/390
                                SuSE Linux Connectivity Server
                                SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7
        Vulnerability Type:     remote command execution
        Severity (1-10):        4
        SuSE default package:   no
        Other affected systems: all systems using ISC DHCP server 3.x

    Content of this advisory:
        1) security vulnerability resolved: format string bug in dynamic DNS
                                            code
           problem description, discussion, solution and upgrade information
        2) pending vulnerabilities, solutions, workarounds
        3) standard appendix (further information)


____________________________________________________________________________

1)  problem description, brief discussion, solution, upgrade information

    The "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol" (DHCP) server from the Internet
    Software Consortium allows hosts on a TCP/IP network to request and be
    assigned IP addresses, and also to discover information about the network
    to which they are attached.

    A remote exploitable format string vulnerability was found in the logging
    routines of the dynamic DNS code of dhcpd. This vulnerability allows an
    attacker, usually within the LAN served by the DHCP server, to get remote
    root access to the host running dhcpd.

    The dhcp/dhcp-server package is not installed by default nor is the
    dynamic DNS feature enabled by default.
    As temporary workaround the dynamic DNS feature could be disabled via
    dhcpd's config file with the following lines:
        ddns-update-style none;
        ddns-updates off;
    After updating the package or modifying the config file you have to run:
        rcdhcpd restart
    as root to restart all instances of running dhcpd processes.

    Please download the update package for your distribution and verify its
    integrity by the methods listed in section 3) of this announcement.
    Then, install the package using the command "rpm -Fhv file.rpm" to apply
    the update.
    Our maintenance customers are being notified individually. The packages
    are being offered to install from the maintenance web.



    i386 Intel Platform:

    SuSE-8.0
      ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/n2/dhcp-server-3.0.1rc6-8.i386.rpm
      754569c059f5f2c4f71397f6c6498f53
    source rpm:
      ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/8.0/zq1/dhcp-3.0.1rc6-8.src.rpm

      82ab4455ae86a932a746778ca0cf06f1

    SuSE-7.3
      ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.3/n2/dhcp-3.0rc12-47.i386.rpm
      58bdf5e4e0622ba280fad0d649a36bdd
    source rpm:
      ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.3/zq1/dhcp-3.0rc12-47.src.rpm
      20abdc3bad4810971aa4cc959c133a9e

    SuSE-7.2
      ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.2/n2/dhcp-3.0rc4-27.i386.rpm
      826ffc2524ad6a6b3b746e3c5e0e5413
    source rpm:
      ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.2/zq1/dhcp-3.0rc4-27.src.rpm
      7bfd527698beef5a83e60577e7e02cfb



    Sparc Platform:

    SuSE-7.3
      ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/update/7.3/n2/dhcp-3.0rc12-22.sparc.rpm

      15ec49d27e7f8b61ec22616484e43996
    source rpm:
      ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/sparc/update/7.3/zq1/dhcp-3.0rc12-22.src.rpm
      1e3f0ee6da5684a49b31908f0e6ac9dd



    PPC Power PC Platform:

    SuSE-7.3
      ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/7.3/n2/dhcp-3.0rc12-32.ppc.rpm
      76914c072100dff6fdf781ed81f7afeb
    source rpm:
      ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/update/7.3/zq1/dhcp-3.0rc12-32.src.rpm
      9ac78f35a529c24315f11184555c7f81



____________________________________________________________________________

2)  Pending vulnerabilities in SuSE Distributions and Workarounds:

  - tcpdump/libpcap
    Various security and non-security related bugs were found in the code
    of tcpdump and libpcap. New RPMs are currently being build.


____________________________________________________________________________

3)  standard appendix: authenticity verification, additional information

  - Package authenticity verification:

    SuSE update packages are available on many mirror ftp servers all over
    the world. While this service is being considered valuable and important
    to the free and open source software community, many users wish to be
    sure about the origin of the package and its content before installing
    the package. There are two verification methods that can be used
    independently from each other to prove the authenticity of a downloaded
    file or rpm package:
    1) md5sums as provided in the (cryptographically signed) announcement.
    2) using the internal gpg signatures of the rpm package.

    1) execute the command
        md5sum <name-of-the-file.rpm>
       after you downloaded the file from a SuSE ftp server or its mirrors.
       Then, compare the resulting md5sum with the one that is listed in the
       announcement. Since the announcement containing the checksums is
       cryptographically signed (usually using the key security@suse.de),
       the checksums show proof of the authenticity of the package.
       We disrecommend to subscribe to security lists which cause the
       email message containing the announcement to be modified so that
       the signature does not match after transport through the mailing
       list software.
       Downsides: You must be able to verify the authenticity of the
       announcement in the first place. If RPM packages are being rebuilt
       and a new version of a package is published on the ftp server, all
       md5 sums for the files are useless.

    2) rpm package signatures provide an easy way to verify the authenticity
       of an rpm package. Use the command
        rpm -v --checksig <file.rpm>

       to verify the signature of the package, where <file.rpm> is the
       filename of the rpm package that you have downloaded. Of course,
       package authenticity verification can only target an uninstalled rpm
       package file.
       Prerequisites:
        a) gpg is installed
        b) The package is signed using a certain key. The public part of this
           key must be installed by the gpg program in the directory
           ~/.gnupg/ under the user's home directory who performs the
           signature verification (usually root). You can import the key
           that is used by SuSE in rpm packages for SuSE Linux by saving
           this announcement to a file ("announcement.txt") and
           running the command (do "su -" to be root):
            gpg --batch; gpg < announcement.txt | gpg --import
           SuSE Linux distributions version 7.1 and thereafter install the
           key "build@suse.de" upon installation or upgrade, provided that
           the package gpg is installed. The file containing the public key
           is placed at the toplevel directory of the first CD (pubring.gpg)
           and at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/pubring.gpg-build.suse.de .


  - SuSE runs two security mailing lists to which any interested party may
    subscribe:

    suse-security@suse.com
        -   general/linux/SuSE security discussion.
            All SuSE security announcements are sent to this list.
            To subscribe, send an email to
                <suse-security-subscribe@suse.com>.

    suse-security-announce@suse.com

        -   SuSE's announce-only mailing list.
            Only SuSE's security annoucements are sent to this list.
            To subscribe, send an email to
                <suse-security-announce-subscribe@suse.com>.

    For general information or the frequently asked questions (faq)
    send mail to:
        <suse-security-info@suse.com> or
        <suse-security-faq@suse.com> respectively.

    =====================================================================
    SuSE's security contact is <security@suse.com> or <security@suse.de>.
    The <security@suse.de> public key is listed below.
    =====================================================================
____________________________________________________________________________

    The information in this advisory may be distributed or reproduced,
    provided that the advisory is not modified in any way. In particular,
    it is desired that the cleartext signature shows proof of the
    authenticity of the text.
    SuSE Linux AG makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect
    to the information contained in this security advisory.


Bye,
     Thomas

-- 
  Thomas Biege <thomas@suse.de>

  SuSE Linux AG,Deutschherrnstr. 15-19,90429 Nuernberg
  Function: Security Support & Auditing
  "lynx -source http://www.suse.de/~thomas/contact/thomas.asc | pgp -fka"
  Key fingerprint = 51 AD B9 C7 34 FC F2 54  01 4A 1C D4 66 64 09 83
-- 
        Trete durch die Form ein, und trete aus der Form heraus.

SuSE: “A remote exploitable format string vulnerability was found in the logging routines of the dynamic DNS code of dhcpd. This vulnerability allows an attacker, usually within the LAN served by the DHCP server, to get remote root access to the host running dhcpd.”

Anonymous Reader writes, “For several years, Red Hat CTO Michael Tiemann has described Linux and
open source software as “disruptive technologies” that were destined to “revolutionize the embedded software market, destroying the old status quo and replacing it with a newer, status quo”. But what wasn’t clear, was what form the “revolution” would take. Now, Tiemann believes he has figured out just what is going to happen — and “it’s not pretty,” says Tiemann. “The embedded systems market needs to adapt to those terms, not the other way around. I believe that the companies that can adapt in time will not only be spared the ravages of the revolution, but will emerge as the new leaders . . .” Read the full guest editorial by Michael Tiemann at LinuxDevices.com.”