[ GLSA 200810-01 ] WordNet: Execution of arbitrary code

[GLSA]

Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Title: WordNet: Execution of arbitrary code (GLSA 200810-01)
Severity: normal
Exploitable: local, remote
Date: October 07, 2008
Bug(s): #211491
ID: 200810-01

Synopsis


Multiple vulnerabilities were found in WordNet, possibly allowing for the
execution of arbitrary code.


Background


WordNet is a large lexical database of English.


Affected Packages

Package: app-dicts/wordnet
Vulnerable: < 3.0-r2
Unaffected: >= 3.0-r2
Architectures: All supported architectures


Description


Jukka Ruohonen initially reported a boundary error within the
searchwn() function in src/wn.c. A thorough investigation by the oCERT
team revealed several other vulnerabilities in WordNet:

• Jukka Ruohonen and Rob Holland (oCERT) reported multiple boundary
  errors within the searchwn() function in src/wn.c, the wngrep()
  function in lib/search.c, the morphstr() and morphword() functions in
  lib/morph.c, and the getindex() in lib/search.c, which lead to
  stack-based buffer overflows.
• Rob Holland (oCERT) reported two
  boundary errors within the do_init() function in lib/morph.c, which
  lead to stack-based buffer overflows via specially crafted
  "WNSEARCHDIR" or "WNHOME" environment variables.
• Rob Holland
  (oCERT) reported multiple boundary errors in the bin_search() and
  bin_search_key() functions in binsrch.c, which lead to stack-based
  buffer overflows via specially crafted data files.
• Rob Holland
  (oCERT) reported a boundary error within the parse_index() function in
  lib/search.c, which leads to a heap-based buffer overflow via specially
  crafted data files.

Impact

• In case the application is accessible e.g. via a web server,
  a remote attacker could pass overly long strings as arguments to the
  "wm" binary, possibly leading to the execution of arbitrary code.
• A local attacker could exploit the second vulnerability via
  specially crafted "WNSEARCHDIR" or "WNHOME" environment variables,
  possibly leading to the execution of arbitrary code with escalated
  privileges.
• A local attacker could exploit the third and
  fourth vulnerability by making the application use specially crafted
  data files, possibly leading to the execution of arbitrary code.

Workaround


There is no known workaround at this time.


Resolution


All WordNet users should upgrade to the latest version: