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RHEL 2.1 : sendmail (RHSA-2003:074)

critical Nessus Plugin ID 12372

Synopsis

The remote Red Hat host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

Updated Sendmail packages are available to fix a vulnerability that may allow remote attackers to gain root privileges by sending a carefully crafted message.

[Updated March 18 2003] Added packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES and Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS.

Sendmail is a widely used Mail Transport Agent (MTA) which is included in all Red Hat Enterprise Linux distributions.

During a code audit of Sendmail by ISS, a critical vulnerability was uncovered that affects unpatched versions of Sendmail prior to version 8.12.8. A remote attacker can send a carefully crafted email message which, when processed by sendmail, causes arbitrary code to be executed as root.

We are advised that a proof-of-concept exploit is known to exist, but is not believed to be in the wild.

Since this is a message-based vulnerability, MTAs other than Sendmail may pass on the carefully crafted message. This means that unpatched versions of Sendmail inside a network could still be at risk even if they do not accept external connections directly.

All users are advised to update to these erratum packages which contain a backported patch to correct this vulnerability.

Red Hat would like to thank Eric Allman for his assistance with this vulnerability.

Solution

Update the affected packages.

See Also

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2002-1337

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2003:074

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 12372

File Name: redhat-RHSA-2003-074.nasl

Version: 1.27

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 7/6/2004

Updated: 1/14/2021

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Critical

Score: 9.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 10

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:2.1, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:sendmail, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:sendmail-cf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:sendmail-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:sendmail-doc

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/RedHat/release, Host/RedHat/rpm-list, Host/cpu

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 3/19/2003

Vulnerability Publication Date: 3/7/2003

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2002-1337

CERT-CC: CA-2003-07

RHSA: 2003:074