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Red Hat Enterprise Linux flaw

Opinion
Jan 26, 20044 mins
NetworkingSecurity

* Patches from Red Hat, Mandrake Linux * Beware StartPage.AB Trojan * Security start-ups offer new brands of protection, and other interesting reading

Today’s bug patches and security alerts:

Red Hat announces exploit in Enterprise Linux product

Red Hat has announced a security vulnerability in its recently-released Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 product. The exploit allows any user with a local account on the affected machine to elevate his or her privileges to root level … but apparently only on machines running the AMD64 architecture. The bug resides directly in the kernel and is not a fault of the hardware. Geek.com, 01/22/04.

https://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2004Jan/gee20040122023558.htm

Red Hat advisory:

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2004-017.html

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Mandrake Linux, Red Hat patch slocate

A buffer overflow vulnerability in slocate, a secure version of the file search utility locate, could be exploited by a malicious user to gain the group privilege of slocate. The attacker could use this to view all data in the slocate database. For more, go to:

Mandrake Linux:

https://www.nwfusion.com/go2/0126bug1a.html

Red Hat:

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2004-040.html

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Mandrake Linux patches jabber

A flaw in the way jabber handles SSL connections could be exploited to crash the server, resulting in a denial of service. For more, go to:

https://www.nwfusion.com/go2/0126bug1b.html

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Today’s roundup of virus alerts:

StartPage.AB – A Trojan horse that changes the home page and search options in Internet Explorer. It also attempts to prevent the user from visiting anti-spyware sites and prevents changes to the registry from being saved. (Panda Software)

W32/Dumaru-Y – A Windows virus that spreads via an e-mail message with an attached executable that is poorly disguised as a JPEG image. The virus has its own SMTP engine for mass mailing and also acts as a backdoor Trojan. (Sophos)

W32/Flopcopy-A – A simple virus that spreads via floppy disks. It infects any floppy that’s inserted into the infected machine using a file called recycle.exe. (Sophos)

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From the interesting reading department:

Review: Patch management

In our test of SecurityProfiling’s SysUpdate 4.1.4 with its new Policy Compliance and Enforcement Module 1.0, we found that while the product is moving in the right direction toward policy-based patch management, it’s still a little rough around the edges. Network World, 01/26/04.

https://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2004/0126rev.html?nl

Spyware

What is spyware? And what harm can it do to my network? Even in its most innocuous form, spyware is an invasion of privacy. Network World, 01/26/04.

https://www.nwfusion.com/research/2004/0126spy.html?nl

Security start-ups offer new brands of protection

Three security start-ups this week are vying for a spot in the corporate network with products designed to protect data by monitoring for network-based attacks and stopping outbound transmission of sensitive data. Network World, 01/26/04.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0126security.html?nl

Options shrink for ID management

End users and vendors are evaluating their identity management efforts as the long-anticipated convergence of provisioning and access management software matures. Network World, 01/26/04.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0126accessmgmt.html?nl

CipherTrust adds spam filter to gateway

E-mail security company CipherTrust is boosting the anti-spam features of its gateway appliance with a software upgrade that includes four additional methods for users to detect unwanted messages. Network World, 01/26/04.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0126ciphertrust.html?nl

Cisco warns of IP PBX security hole on IBM hardware

Cisco this week released a security bulletin warning of a vulnerability in its IP telephony software running on IBM server hardware. Network World Fusion, 01/23/04.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0123cisvoip.html?nl

NAI’s McAfee the latest to add anti-spyware

Network Associates Inc. (NAI) will become the latest security software maker to address the growing problem of stealth surveillance software known as spyware when it announces a new consumer product for locating and removing the applications Monday. IDG News Service, 01/23/04.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0123nais.html?nl

Panel’s GOP staff saw Democratic strategy memos

From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Star-Telegram, 01/22/04.

https://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/7769461.htm