Stunnel Local Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

BID:2128

Info

Stunnel Local Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

Bugtraq ID: 2128
Class: Input Validation Error
CVE:
Remote: No
Local: Yes
Published: Dec 18 2000 12:00AM
Updated: Dec 18 2000 12:00AM
Credit: reported to bugtraq by Megyer Ur <[email protected]> on Mon, 18 Dec 2000.
Vulnerable: Stunnel Stunnel 3.8
- Debian Linux 2.3
- Debian Linux 2.2
- Debian Linux 2.1
- Debian Linux 2.0
+ EnGarde Secure Linux 1.0.1
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 5.0
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.2
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.0
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.8
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.7
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.6
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.5
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.4
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.3
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.1
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.0
- Redhat Linux 7.0
- Redhat Linux 6.0 x
- Redhat Linux 5.0
Stunnel Stunnel 3.7
- Debian Linux 2.3
- Debian Linux 2.2
- Debian Linux 2.1
- Debian Linux 2.0
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 5.0
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.2
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.0
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.8
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.7
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.6
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.5
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.4
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.3
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.1
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.0
- Redhat Linux 7.0
- Redhat Linux 6.0 x
- Redhat Linux 5.0
Stunnel Stunnel 3.4 a
- Debian Linux 2.3
- Debian Linux 2.2
- Debian Linux 2.1
- Debian Linux 2.0
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 5.0
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.2
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.0
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.8
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.7
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.6
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.5
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.4
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.3
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.1
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.0
- Redhat Linux 7.0
- Redhat Linux 6.0 x
- Redhat Linux 5.0
Stunnel Stunnel 3.3
- Debian Linux 2.3
- Debian Linux 2.2
- Debian Linux 2.1
- Debian Linux 2.0
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 5.0
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.2
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.0
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.8
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.7
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.6
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.5
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.4
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.3
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.1
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.0
- Redhat Linux 7.0
- Redhat Linux 6.0 x
- Redhat Linux 5.0
- Trustix Secure Linux 1.2
- Trustix Trustix Secure Linux 1.1
- Trustix Trustix Secure Linux 1.0
Not Vulnerable: Stunnel Stunnel 3.9
- Debian Linux 2.3
- Debian Linux 2.2
- Debian Linux 2.1
- Debian Linux 2.0
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 5.0
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.2
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.1
- FreeBSD FreeBSD 4.0
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.8
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.7
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.6
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.5
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.4
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.3
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.1
- OpenBSD OpenBSD 2.0
- Redhat Linux 7.0
- Redhat Linux 6.0 x
- Redhat Linux 5.0

Discussion

Stunnel Local Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

Stunnel is an SSL encryption wrapper by Michal Trojnara. It is available for a number of platforms including FreeBSD, Debian Linux and RedHat Linux.

Insecurely-structured calls to syslog() found in certain versions of Stunnel (prior to version 3.9) pass user-supplied data to the syslog() function in such a way that maliciously embedded format specifiers in this data can cause the process to overwrite sections of its own memory with arbitrary data.

This user-supplied data is obtained from an identd server of a connecting host. If an attacker controls an ident server, an arbitrary username value containing malicious format specifiers can be sent to Stunnel.

This string would then be passed as part of the format string for the syslog() function, where the format specifiers would be interpreted.

This can lead to remote access being gained by the attacker on the target host with privileges of Stunnel, which can be required to run as root.

Exploit / POC

Stunnel Local Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

Currently the SecurityFocus staff are not aware of any publicly available exploits for this vulnerability. If you feel we are in error or are aware of more recent information, please mail us at: [email protected].

Solution / Fix

Stunnel Local Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

Solution:
The stunnel program author, Michal Trojnara, has released a vixed version (3.9), which is available from:
http://www.stunnel.org/download/stunnel/src/stunnel-3.9.tar.gz

stunnel may also be hotfixed.

see log.c, ~line 67:

- syslog(level, text);
+ syslog(level, "%s", text);


Stunnel Stunnel 3.3

Stunnel Stunnel 3.4 a

Stunnel Stunnel 3.7

Stunnel Stunnel 3.8

References

Stunnel Local Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

References:
© CVE.report 2026 |

Use of this information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition. There are NO warranties, implied or otherwise, with regard to this information or its use. Any use of this information is at the user's risk. It is the responsibility of user to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content. EACH USER WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY consequences of his or her direct or indirect use of this web site. ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. This site will NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT or any other kind of loss.

CVE, CWE, and OVAL are registred trademarks of The MITRE Corporation and the authoritative source of CVE content is MITRE's CVE web site. This site includes MITRE data granted under the following license.

Free CVE JSON API cve.report/api

CVE.report and Source URL Uptime Status status.cve.report