Information Security News: Solaris Flaw Leaves Machines Open to Attacks

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1269800,00.asp

By Dennis Fisher 
September 16, 2003   
 
There is a serious security flaw in several versions of both Solaris 
and Trusted Solaris that make it possible for virtually any remote or 
local user to gain root privileges on a vulnerable machine. There is 
also a working exploit for this vulnerability circulating in the 
security community. 

The problem lies in the Solstice AdminSuite, a set of tools Sun 
Microsystems Inc. includes with the operating system that allows 
administrators to perform remote administration tasks. The tool set 
uses the sadmind daemon to execute these tasks. The daemon by default 
uses a weak authentication scheme, which allows an attacker to send a 
series of special Remote Procedure Call (RPC) packets to the daemon 
and forge a client's identity, according to an advisory on the flaw 
published Tuesday by iDefense Inc., in Reston, Va. 

Once this is accomplished, the attacker can do whatever he chooses on 
the compromised machine. 

The sadmind daemon is installed by default on most default 
installations of Solaris. The issue affects versions 7, 8 and 9 of 
Solaris, as well as Trusted Solaris 7 and 8, on both the Sparc and x86 
platforms. Trusted Solaris is the hardened version of Sun's flagship 
operating system. 

Sun, based in Santa Clara, Calif., does not plan to issue a patch for 
this vulnerability. However, the company has published a security 
advisory, which includes a workaround. 

IDefense officials recommend placing inbound filters on TCP and UDP 
port 111, which is used by the Sun RPC service. 



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