H-16: HP-UX Security Vulnerabilities (chfn, Remote Watch)

PROBLEM:       Two problems have been identified in the HP-UX operating 
               system: 1) chfn buffer overrun, and 2) HP Remote Watch. 
PLATFORM:      1) All platforms running HP-UX 9.x and 10.x, 2) HP 9000 series 
               300/400/700/800s running HP-UX 9.x. 
DAMAGE:        1) chfn vulnerability may allow local users to gain root 
               privileges. 2) HP Remote Watch vulnerabilities may allow users 
               unauthorized root access. 
SOLUTION:      Apply the workarounds or solutions provided below. 
VULNERABILITY  Exploit information involving these vulnerabilities have been 
ASSESSMENT:    made publicly available. 


[ Start AUSCERT Advisory ]

1. chfn Buffer Overrun Vulnerability

===========================================================================
AA-96.18                        AUSCERT Advisory
                      HP-UX chfn Buffer Overrun Vulnerability
                                9 December 1996

Last Revised: --

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AUSCERT has received information that a vulnerability exists in the
chfn(1) program under HP-UX 9.x and 10.x.

This vulnerability may allow local users to gain root privileges.

Exploit information involving this vulnerability has been made publicly
available.

Currently there are no vendor patches available that address this
vulnerability.  AUSCERT recommends that sites take the steps outlined in
section 3 as soon as possible.

This advisory will be updated as more information becomes available.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.  Description

    AUSCERT has received information that a vulnerability exists in the
    HP-UX chfn(1) program.  The chfn command is used to change user
    information in the password file, and is installed by default.

    Due to insufficient bounds checking on arguments which are supplied
    by users, it is possible to overwrite the internal stack space of the
    chfn program while it is executing.  By supplying a carefully
    designed argument to the chfn program, intruders may be able to
    force chfn to execute arbitrary commands.  As chfn is setuid
    root, this may allow intruders to run arbitrary commands with root
    privileges.

    This vulnerability is known to affect both HP-UX 9.x and 10.x.

    By default, chfn is located in /usr/bin under both HP-UX 9.x and 10.x.

    Exploit information involving this vulnerability has been made 
    publicly available.

2.  Impact

    Local users may gain root privileges.

3.  Workarounds/Solution

    AUSCERT recommends that sites limit the possible exploitation of this
    vulnerability by immediately removing the setuid permissions as stated
    in Section 3.1.  If the chfn command is required, AUSCERT recommends
    the chfn wrapper program given in Section 3.2 be installed.

    Currently there are no vendor patches available that address this
    vulnerability.  AUSCERT recommends that official vendor patches be
    installed when they are made available.

3.1 Remove setuid and non-root execute permissions

    To prevent the exploitation of the vulnerability described in the
    advisory, AUSCERT recommends that the setuid permissions be removed
    from the chfn program immediately.  As the chfn program will no
    longer work for non-root users, it is recommended that the execute
    permissions also be removed.  Before doing so, the original permissions
    for chfn should be noted as they will be needed if sites choose to
    install the chfn wrapper program (Section 3.2).

    For example:

	# ls -l /usr/bin/chfn
	-r-sr-xr-x   1 root     bin        20480 Jun 10  1996 /usr/bin/chfn

	# chmod 500 /usr/bin/chfn
        # ls -l /usr/bin/chfn     
	-r-x------   1 root     bin        20480 Jun 10  1996 /usr/bin/chfn

    Note that this will remove the ability for any non-root user to run the
    chfn program. 

3.2 Install chfn wrapper

    AUSCERT has developed a wrapper program to help prevent programs from
    being exploited using the vulnerability described in this advisory.
    This wrapper, including installation instructions, can be found at:

	ftp://ftp.auscert.org.au/pub/auscert/tools/overflow_wrapper.c

    This replaces the chfn program with a wrapper which checks the
    length of the command line arguments passed to it.  If an argument
    exceeds a certain predefined value (MAXARGLEN), the wrapper exits
    without executing the chfn command.  The wrapper program can also
    be configured to syslog any failed attempts to execute chfn with
    arguments exceeding MAXARGLEN.  For further instructions on using
    this wrapper, please read the comments at the top of overflow_wrapper.c.

    When compiling overflow_wrapper.c for use with HP-UX chfn, AUSCERT
    recommends defining MAXARGLEN to be 16.

    The MD5 checksum for Version 1.0 of overflow_wrapper.c is:

	MD5 (overflow_wrapper.c) = f7f83af7f3f0ec1188ed26cf9280f6db

    AUSCERT recommends that until vendor patches can be installed, sites
    requiring the chfn functionality apply this workaround.

4.  Additional measures

    Most Unix systems ship numerous programs which have setuid or
    setgid privileges.  Often the functionality supplied by these
    privileged programs is not required by many sites.  The large number
    of privileged programs that are shipped by default are to cater for
    all possible uses of the system.

    AUSCERT encourages sites to examine all the setuid/setgid programs
    and determine the necessity of each program.  If a program does not
    absolutely require the setuid/setgid privileges to operate (for
    example, it is only run by the root user),  the setuid/setgid
    privileges should be removed.  Furthermore, if a program is not
    required at your site, then all execute permissions should be removed.

    A sample command to find all setuid/setgid programs is (run as root):

       # find / \( -perm -4000 -o -perm -2000 \) -exec ls -ld {} \;

    It is AUSCERT's experience that many vulnerabilities are being
    discovered in setuid/setgid programs which are not necessary for the
    correct operation of most systems.  Sites can increase their security
    by removing unnecessary setuid/setgid programs.

    For example, the functionality provided by the chfn program is not
    needed by many sites since the user information stored in the password
    file, which chfn is used to change, is typically static.  If sites
    had previously disabled the chfn program, they would not have been
    vulnerable to this latest exploit.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AUSCERT thanks Hewlett-Packard for their continued assistance and technical
expertise essential for the production of this advisory.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ End AUSCERT Advisory ]

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[ Start CERT Advisory ]

2. HP Remote Watch Vulnerabilities

=============================================================================
CERT(sm) Vendor-Initiated Bulletin VB-96.20
December 12, 1996

Topic: Security Vulnerabilities in HP Remote Watch 
Source: Hewlett-Packard Company

To aid in the wide distribution of essential security information, the CERT
Coordination Center is forwarding the following information from
Hewlett-Packard Company. Hewlett-Packard urges you to act on this information
as soon as possible. Their contact information is included in the forwarded
text below; please contact them if you have any questions or need further
information.


=======================FORWARDED TEXT STARTS HERE============================

===============================================================================
Document Id: [HPSBUX9610-039]
Date Loaded: [10-24-96]

Description: Security Vulnerabilities in HP Remote Watch
===============================================================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
      HEWLETT-PACKARD SECURITY ADVISORY: #000039, 24 October 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hewlett-Packard recommends that the information in the following
Security Advisory should be acted upon as soon as possible. Hewlett-
Packard will not be liable for any consequences to any customer 
resulting from customer's failure to fully implement instructions in this
Security Advisory as soon as possible.

Permission is granted for copying and circulating this advisory to
Hewlett-Packard (HP) customers (or the Internet community) for the
purpose of alerting them to problems, if and only if, the advisory is
not edited or changed in any way, is attributed to HP, and provided such
reproduction and/or distribution is performed for non-commercial
purposes.

Any other use of this information is prohibited. HP is not liable
for any misuse of this information by any third party.

_______________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM:  Vulnerability in HP Remote Watch in 9.X releases of HP-UX
PLATFORM: HP 9000 series 300/400/700/800s
DAMAGE:   Vulnerabilities in HP Remote Watch exists allowing users to
          gain additional privileges.
SOLUTION: Do not use Remote Watch.
_______________________________________________________________________

I. Remote Watch Update

   A. Problem description

   A recent mailing list disclosure described two vulnerabilities in
   which HP Remote Watch allows unauthorized root access. The first was
   via a socket connection on port 5556.  The second was as a result of
   using the showdisk utility, which is part of the Remote Watch product.
   It has been found that HP9000 Series 300, 400, 700, and 800 systems
   running only HP-UX Release 9.X have this vulnerability.

   B. Fixing the problem

   This vulnerability can only be eliminated from releases 9.X of HP-UX
   which are using Remote Watch by disabling the entire product.  The
   default location for this product is /usr/remwatch/   .
   Removal can be accomplished (as root) with the following:

   NOTE: Do not run the standard rmfn command as HP has discovered
   problems with its inability to handle programs with active executables.

   Instead, run (with no options):

            /usr/remwatch/bin/removeall

   This runs a Remote Watch script called "unconfigure" to stop actively
   running programs, then proceeds to remove all files including the
   filesets.

   The administrator should also perform both of the following steps:

     1.  Remove or comment out the following entry in /etc/inetd.conf
         file:

    rwdaemon stream tcp nowait root /usr/remwatch/bin/rwdaemon rwdaemon

     2.  Have inetd re-read its configuration file by executing at the
         prompt:

    inetd -c


   This is the official recommendation from Hewlett-Packard Company.

   C. Current product status

   Remote Watch was last released from the labs in August of 1993.
   In December 1994 customers were informed of pending product
   obsolescence.   Hewlett-Packard recommends that all customers
   concerned with the security of their HP-UX systems with Remote
   Watch configured on it perform the actions described herein as
   soon as possible.  Again, no patches will be available for any
   versions of HP-UX.

   Since the functionality of HP Remote Watch software has now been
   replicated in other tools that handle system management more
   effectively there is no longer a sufficient need for HP Remote
   Watch.  Most of the functionality is now provided by the Systems
   Administration Manager (SAM) tool, available at no charge as part
   of the HP-UX operating system, or by the HP OpenView
   OperationsCenter application.

   If further assistance is desired please contact your HP Support
   Representative.


   D. HP SupportLine

   To subscribe to automatically receive future NEW HP Security
   Bulletins from the HP SupportLine mail service via electronic mail,
   send an email message to:

          support@us.external.hp.com   (no Subject is required)

   Multiple instructions are allowed in the TEXT PORTION OF THE MESSAGE,
   here are some basic instructions you may want to use:

   To add your name to the subscription list for new security bulletins,
   send the following in the TEXT PORTION OF THE MESSAGE:

          subscribe security_info

   To retrieve the index of all HP Security Bulletins issued to date,
   send the following in the TEXT PORTION OF THE MESSAGE:

          send security_info_list

   To get a patch matrix of current HP-UX and BLS security patches
   referenced by either Security Bulletin or Platform/OS, put the
   following in the text portion of your message:

          send hp-ux_patch_matrix

   World Wide Web service for browsing of bulletins is available via
   our URL:
          http://us.external.hp.com

          Choose "Support news", then under Support news,
          choose "Security Bulletins"


   E. To report new security vulnerabilities, send email to

          security-alert@hp.com

   Please encrypt exploit information using the security-alert PGP
   key, available from your local key server, or by sending a
   message with a -subject- (not body) of 'get key' (no quotes) to
   security-alert@hp.com.
_______________________________________________________________________


========================FORWARDED TEXT ENDS HERE=============================


[ End CERT Advisory ]

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