BSD ftpd Single Byte Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
BID:2124
Info
BSD ftpd Single Byte Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
| Bugtraq ID: | 2124 |
| Class: | Boundary Condition Error |
| CVE: | |
| Remote: | Yes |
| Local: | No |
| Published: | Dec 18 2000 12:00AM |
| Updated: | Dec 18 2000 12:00AM |
| Credit: | This vulnerability was discovered by Scrippie <[email protected]>. |
| Vulnerable: |
OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.8 OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.7 OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.6 OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.5 OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.4 NetBSD NetBSD 1.5 NetBSD NetBSD 1.4.2 NetBSD NetBSD 1.4.1 NetBSD NetBSD 1.4 David Madore ftpd-BSD 0.2.3 David A. Holland linux-ftpd 0.17 BSD ftpd 0.3.2 |
| Not Vulnerable: |
FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.2 FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1.1 FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1 FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.0 FreeBSD FreeBSD 3.5 FreeBSD FreeBSD 3.4 FreeBSD FreeBSD 3.3 FreeBSD FreeBSD 3.2 David Madore ftpd-BSD 0.2.3 -4 |
Discussion
BSD ftpd Single Byte Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
The ftp daemon derived from 4.x BSD source contains a serious vulnerability that may compromise root access.
There exists a one byte overflow in the replydirname() function. The overflow condition is due to an off-by-one bug that allows an attacker to write a null byte beyond the boundaries of a local buffer and over the lowest byte of the saved base pointer.
As a result, the numerical value of the pointer decreases (and it thus points to a higher location (or lower address) on the stack than it should) and when the replydirname() function returns, the modified saved base pointer is stored in the base pointer register. When the calling function returns, the return address is read from an offset of where the base pointer points to. With the last byte of the base pointer zero, this will be a location other than where it should be.
If this region of the stack is under the control of the attacker, such as the local variable which contained the extra byte in the first place, an arbitrary address can be placed there that will be used as the saved return address by the function.
This is the case in ftpd. It is possible for an attacker to force the ftp daemon to look in user-supplied data for a return address and then execute instructions at the location as root.
This vulnerability can be exploited on systems supporting anonymous ftp if a writeable directory exists (such as an "incoming" directory). This is rarely in place by default.
It should noted that OpenBSD ships with ftp disabled, though it is an extremely commonly used service.
The ftp daemon derived from 4.x BSD source contains a serious vulnerability that may compromise root access.
There exists a one byte overflow in the replydirname() function. The overflow condition is due to an off-by-one bug that allows an attacker to write a null byte beyond the boundaries of a local buffer and over the lowest byte of the saved base pointer.
As a result, the numerical value of the pointer decreases (and it thus points to a higher location (or lower address) on the stack than it should) and when the replydirname() function returns, the modified saved base pointer is stored in the base pointer register. When the calling function returns, the return address is read from an offset of where the base pointer points to. With the last byte of the base pointer zero, this will be a location other than where it should be.
If this region of the stack is under the control of the attacker, such as the local variable which contained the extra byte in the first place, an arbitrary address can be placed there that will be used as the saved return address by the function.
This is the case in ftpd. It is possible for an attacker to force the ftp daemon to look in user-supplied data for a return address and then execute instructions at the location as root.
This vulnerability can be exploited on systems supporting anonymous ftp if a writeable directory exists (such as an "incoming" directory). This is rarely in place by default.
It should noted that OpenBSD ships with ftp disabled, though it is an extremely commonly used service.
Exploit / POC
BSD ftpd Single Byte Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
The following exploit is available:
The following exploit is available:
Solution / Fix
BSD ftpd Single Byte Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Solution:
OpenBSD has released a patch for this vulnerability. NetBSD has released patches for versions 1.4.3 and 1.5. It is recommended that users with NetBSD 1.4.2 or earlier upgrade and then apply one of the patches.
Progeny has released patched upgrades for the vulnerable ftp server packages in their distribution of Debian Linux.
David A. Holland linux-ftpd 0.17
David Madore ftpd-BSD 0.2.3
BSD ftpd 0.3.2
NetBSD NetBSD 1.5
OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.8
Solution:
OpenBSD has released a patch for this vulnerability. NetBSD has released patches for versions 1.4.3 and 1.5. It is recommended that users with NetBSD 1.4.2 or earlier upgrade and then apply one of the patches.
Progeny has released patched upgrades for the vulnerable ftp server packages in their distribution of Debian Linux.
David A. Holland linux-ftpd 0.17
-
Progeny 1.0 i386 ftpd_0.17-3_i386.deb
http://archive.progeny.com/progeny/updates/newton/ftpd_0.17-3_i386.deb
David Madore ftpd-BSD 0.2.3
-
samiam.org Linux ftpd-BSD-0.2.3-4.i386
http://www.samiam.org/rpms/ftpd-BSD-0.2.3-4.i386.rpm
BSD ftpd 0.3.2
-
Progeny 1.0 i386 bsd-ftpd_0.3.2-7_i386.deb
http://archive.progeny.com/progeny/updates/newton/bsd-ftpd_0.3.2-7_i38 6.deb
NetBSD NetBSD 1.5
-
NetBSD 1.5 20001220-ftpd-1.5
# cd /usr/src/libexec/ftpd # patch < 20001220-ftpd # make cleandir # make depend # make # make install
ftp://ftp.NetBSD.ORG/pub/NetBSD/misc/security/patches/20001220-ftpd-1. 5
OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.8
-
OpenBSD 005_ftpd.patch
Apply by doing: cd /usr/src patch -p0 < 005_ftpd.patchAnd then rebuild and install ftpd: cd libexec/ftpd make obj make depend make make install
http://www.securityfocus.com/data/vulnerabilities/patches/005_ftpd.pat ch