From: "Geo." 

Highly recommended? Sounds like another root exploit..

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____________________________________________________________________________
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SGI Security Advisory
Title : Sendmail DNS Map Vulnerability Number : 20030803-01-P
Date : August 25, 2003
Reference: CVE CAN-2003-0688
Reference: SGI BUG 898396
Fixed in : IRIX 6.5.22 or patch 5287
____________________________________________________________________________
__
SGI provides this information freely to the SGI user community for its
consideration, interpretation, implementation and use. SGI recommends that
this information be acted upon as soon as possible. SGI provides the
information in this Security Advisory on an "AS-IS" basis only,
and disclaims all warranties with respect thereto, express, implied or
otherwise, including, without limitation, any warranty of merchantability
or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall SGI be liable for
any loss of profits, loss of business, loss of data or for any indirect,
special, exemplary, incidental or consequential damages of any kind arising
from your use of, failure to use or improper use of any of the instructions
or information in this Security Advisory.
____________________________________________________________________________
__
- -----------------------
- --- Issue Specifics ---
- -----------------------
It's been reported by sendmail.org that there is a potential problem in the
sendmail 8.12 series with respect to DNS maps in sendmail 8.12.8 and
earlier sendmail 8.12.x versions: http://www.sendmail.org/dnsmap1.html SGI
ships sendmail 8.12.5 with IRIX 6.5.19 and later. The bug did not exist in
versions before 8.12 as the DNS map type is new to 8.12.x versions. This
bug could potentially be exploited to cause a Denial of Service. There may
be a possibility of using it to gain remote root access. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2003-0688 to this issue:
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CAN-2003-0688
SGI has investigated the issue and recommends the following steps for
neutralizing the exposure. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that these measures be
implemented on ALL vulnerable SGI systems. These issues have been corrected
in patches and in future releases of IRIX.

- --------------
- --- Impact ---
- --------------
The sendmail binary is installed by default on IRIX 6.5 systems as part of
eoe.sw.base.
To determine the version of IRIX you are running, execute the following command:
# /bin/uname -R
That will return a result similar to the following:
# 6.5 6.5.19f
The first number ("6.5") is the release name, the second
("6.5.16f" in this case) is the extended release name. The
extended release name is the "version" we refer to throughout
this document.

- ----------------------------
- --- Temporary Workaround ---
- ----------------------------
There is no effective workaround available for these problems if you use
dns maps with sendmail. SGI recommends either upgrading to IRIX 6.5.22
(when available), or installing the appropriate patch from the listing
below.

- ----------------
- --- Solution ---
- ----------------
SGI has provided a series of patches for these vulnerabilities. Our
recommendation is to upgrade to IRIX 6.5.22 (when available), or install
the appropriate patch.
OS Version Vulnerable? Patch # Other Actions
---------- ----------- ------- -------------
IRIX 3.x unknown Note 1
IRIX 4.x unknown Note 1
IRIX 5.x unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.0.x unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.1 unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.2 unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.3 unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.4 unknown Note 1
IRIX 6.5 no
IRIX 6.5.1 no
IRIX 6.5.2 no
IRIX 6.5.3 no
IRIX 6.5.4 no
IRIX 6.5.5 no
IRIX 6.5.6 no
IRIX 6.5.7 no
IRIX 6.5.8 no
IRIX 6.5.9 no
IRIX 6.5.10 no
IRIX 6.5.11 no
IRIX 6.5.12 no
IRIX 6.5.13 no
IRIX 6.5.14 no
IRIX 6.5.15 no
IRIX 6.5.16 no
IRIX 6.5.17 no
IRIX 6.5.18 no
IRIX 6.5.19 yes 5287 Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.20 yes 5287 Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.21 yes 5287 Notes 2 & 3
IRIX 6.5.22 no
NOTES
1) This version of the IRIX operating has been retired. Upgrade to an
actively supported IRIX operating system. See http://support.sgi.com for
more information. 2) If you have not received an IRIX 6.5.X CD for IRIX
6.5, contact your SGI Support Provider or URL: http://support.sgi.com 3)
Upgrade to IRIX 6.5.22 (when available) or install the patch.
##### Patch File Checksums ####
Filename: README.patch.5287
Algorithm #1 (sum -r): 03461 10 README.patch.5287 Algorithm #2 (sum): 38994
10 README.patch.5287 MD5 checksum: 727E74B176D101AA4DE1E5F816E86AF2
Filename: patchSG0005287
Algorithm #1 (sum -r): 39412 4 patchSG0005287 Algorithm #2 (sum): 5197 4
patchSG0005287 MD5 checksum: 6A69EEF8FC02D549D110A64F8DEDA98C Filename:
patchSG0005287.eoe_src
Algorithm #1 (sum -r): 18481 378 patchSG0005287.eoe_src Algorithm #2 (sum):
2432 378 patchSG0005287.eoe_src MD5 checksum:
EBDE27E3AF773E0EA6D2884A88501B71 Filename: patchSG0005287.eoe_sw
Algorithm #1 (sum -r): 34932 1104 patchSG0005287.eoe_sw Algorithm #2 (sum):
48296 1104 patchSG0005287.eoe_sw MD5 checksum:
0DE3B5C3BE9FE1DE0E0F022BB2FCDF14 Filename: patchSG0005287.idb
Algorithm #1 (sum -r): 56703 4 patchSG0005287.idb Algorithm #2 (sum): 23907
4 patchSG0005287.idb MD5 checksum: 6A25934457046F7EDFD84A9CE39C9623

- ------------------------
- --- Acknowledgments ----
- ------------------------
SGI wishes to thank sendmail.org and the users of the Internet Community at
large for their assistance in this matter.

- -------------
- --- Links ---
- -------------
SGI Security Advisories can be found at:
http://www.sgi.com/support/security/ and
ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/advisories/
SGI Security Patches can be found at: http://www.sgi.com/support/security/
and ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/patches/
SGI patches for IRIX can be found at the following patch servers:
http://support.sgi.com/ and ftp://patches.sgi.com/ SGI freeware updates for
IRIX can be found at: http://freeware.sgi.com/
SGI patches and RPMs for Linux can be found at: http://support.sgi.com
SGI patches for Windows NT or 2000 can be found at: http://support.sgi.com/
IRIX 5.2-6.4 Recommended/Required Patch Sets can be found at:
http://support.sgi.com/ and ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/patchset/ IRIX
6.5 Maintenance Release Streams can be found at: http://support.sgi.com/
IRIX 6.5 Software Update CDs can be obtained from: http://support.sgi.com/
The primary SGI anonymous FTP site for security advisories and patches is
patches.sgi.com. Security advisories and patches are located under the URL
ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/
For security and patch management reasons, ftp.sgi.com (mirrors
patches.sgi.com security FTP repository) lags behind and does not do a
real-time update.

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