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Web site defacement contest?

Opinion
Jul 03, 20034 mins
NetworkingSecurity

* Patches from Red Hat, Conectiva, others * Beware e-mails with the subject line: "El fin se puede hackear a hotmail!!" * Report: Bugbear, Sobig top viruses so far in 2003, and other interesting reading

Happy Fourth of July!

Watch out for a potential Web site defacement spree this weekend:

ISS warns of coordinated attack

An international hacking contest scheduled to begin this weekend could cause headaches for organizations worldwide and disrupt the Internet, according to a warning from Internet Security Systems (ISS). IDG News Service, 07/02/03.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/0702isswarns.html

Today’s bug patches and security alerts:

Red Hat releases Ethereal patch

A number of flaws have been found in Ethereal, a network monitoring tool. Some of these flaws could be exploited to run arbitrary code on an affected machine. For more, go to:

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2003-203.html

Red Hat releases update for PHP

A number of enhancements and bug fixes are in this latest version of PHP. One minor security bug that could be exploited in a cross-scripting attack is also patched. For more, go to:

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2003-204.html

Unzip flaw patched by Red Hat

A flaw in Version 5.50 and earlier of unzip could allow arbitrary files to be overwritten. This could allow malicious code to be placed on the affected machine. For more, go to:

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2003-199.html

Bug in Red Hat GNOME fixed

A flaw in GNOME’s Panel Notification Area applet causes the application to crash whenever a user logs on. This problem has been fixed. For more, go to:

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2003-219.html

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Conectiva patches kde

A flaw in the way kde, a graphical user environment for Linux, calls the ghostview application for viewing PS and PDF files could be exploited to run arbitrary commands on the affected machine. For more, go to:

https://distro.conectiva.com.br/atualizacoes/?id=a&anuncio=000668

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Password flaw in Debian’s mantis

According to an alert from debian, “mantis, a PHP/MySQL Web based bug tracking system, stores the password used to access its database in a configuration file which is world-readable.  This could allow a local attacker to read the password and gain read/write access to the database.” For more, go to:

https://www.debian.org/security/2003/dsa-335

Debian issues fix for imagemagick

According to an alert from Debian, “imagemagick’s libmagick library, under certain circumstances, creates temporary files without taking appropriate security precautions.  This vulnerability could be exploited by a local user to create or overwrite files with the privileges of another user who is invoking a program using this library.” For more, go to:

https://www.debian.org/security/2003/dsa-331

Debian releases fix for acm

The multi-player aerial combat game acm calls an RPC library that contains an integer overflow vulnerability. The flaw could be exploited to run arbitrary code on the affected machine. For more, go to:

https://www.debian.org/security/2003/dsa-333

Debian patches flaw in xgalaga

A buffer overflow in xgalaga, a game, could be exploited by a long Home variable to gain the privileges of ‘games’. For more, go to:

https://www.debian.org/security/2003/dsa-334

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Today’s roundup of virus alerts:

W32/Sluter-A – Another one of those worms that scans port 445 looking for open C$ and Admin$ shares. (Sophos)

W32/Colevo-A – This virus spreads to MSN Messenger contacts using an e-mail message entitled “El fin se puede hackear a hotmail!!” and an attachment called “hotmailpass.exe”. The virus leaves a backdoor open for attackers to gain access to the infected machine. (Sophos)

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From the interesting reading department:

Hacker who threatened Bloomberg gets prison

A Kazakh citizen Tuesday was sentenced to more than four years in prison for hacking into Bloomberg L.P.’s computer system in an attempt to extort $200,000 from the business news service and its founder, Michael Bloomberg, now New York City’s mayor. Boston.com, 07/01/03.

https://www.boston.com/news/daily/01/bloomberg_hack.htm

Report: Bugbear, Sobig top viruses so far in 2003

The Bugbear and Sobig viruses top a list of the most frequently occurring viruses of 2003, according to a report put out by antivirus company Sophos PLC. IDG News Service, 07/01/03.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/0701reporbugbe.html