Heap-based buffer overflow in textbox.c in newt 0.51.5, 0.51.6, and 0.52.2 allows local users to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a request to display a crafted text dialog box.

The remote VMware ESX host is missing a security-related patch. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities, including remote code execution vulnerabilities, in several third-party components and libraries :

  - bind
  - expat
  - glib2
  - Kernel
  - newt
  - nfs-utils
  - NTP
  - OpenSSH
  - OpenSSL

The remote OracleVM system is missing necessary patches to address critical security updates :

  - fix buffer overflow in textbox when reflowing (#524618,     CVE-2009-2905)

  - add release to -devel requires

  - escape macros in changelog

  - add support for tuples of strings in EntryWindow prompts     in snack (#219679)

  - fix multibyte and double width character handling in     entry (#249717)

From Red Hat Security Advisory 2009:1463 :

Updated newt packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, and 5.

This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

Newt is a programming library for color text mode, widget-based user interfaces. Newt can be used to add stacked windows, entry widgets, checkboxes, radio buttons, labels, plain text fields, scrollbars, and so on, to text mode user interfaces.

A heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in the way newt processes content that is to be displayed in a text dialog box. A local attacker could issue a specially crafted text dialog box display request (direct or via a custom application), leading to a denial of service (application crash) or, potentially, arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running the application using the newt library.
(CVE-2009-2905)

Users of newt should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to correct this issue. After installing the updated packages, all applications using the newt library must be restarted for the update to take effect.

CVE-2009-2905 newt: heap-overflow in textbox when text reflowing

A heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in the way newt processes content that is to be displayed in a text dialog box. A local attacker could issue a specially crafted text dialog box display request (direct or via a custom application), leading to a denial of service (application crash) or, potentially, arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running the application using the newt library.
(CVE-2009-2905)

After installing the updated packages, all applications using the newt library must be restarted for the update to take effect.

The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-201006-14 (Newt: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code)

    Miroslav Lichvar reported that Newt is prone to a heap-based buffer     overflow in textbox.c.
  Impact :

    A remote attacker could entice a user to enter a specially crafted     string into a text dialog box rendered by Newt, possibly resulting in     the remote execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the user     running the application, or a Denial of Service condition.
  Workaround :

    There is no known workaround at this time.

a. vMA and Service Console update for newt to 0.52.2-12.el5_4.1

   Newt is a programming library for color text mode, widget based    user interfaces. Newt can be used to add stacked windows, entry    widgets, checkboxes, radio buttons, labels, plain text fields,    scrollbars, etc., to text mode user interfaces.

   A heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in the way newt    processes content that is to be displayed in a text dialog box.
   A local attacker could issue a specially crafted text dialog box    display request (direct or via a custom application), leading to a    denial of service (application crash) or, potentially, arbitrary    code execution with the privileges of the user running the    application using the newt library.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the name CVE-2009-2905 to this issue.

b. vMA and Service Console update for vMA package nfs-utils to    1.0.9-42.el5

   The nfs-utils package provides a daemon for the kernel NFS server    and related tools.

   It was discovered that nfs-utils did not use tcp_wrappers    correctly.  Certain hosts access rules defined in '/etc/hosts.allow'    and '/etc/hosts.deny' may not have been honored, possibly allowing    remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the name CVE-2008-4552 to this issue.

c. vMA and Service Console package glib2 updated to 2.12.3-4.el5_3.1

   GLib is the low-level core library that forms the basis for    projects such as GTK+ and GNOME. It provides data structure    handling for C, portability wrappers, and interfaces for such    runtime functionality as an event loop, threads, dynamic loading,    and an object system.

   Multiple integer overflows in glib/gbase64.c in GLib before 2.20    allow context-dependent attackers to execute arbitrary code via a    long string that is converted either from or to a base64    representation.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the name CVE-2008-4316 to this issue.

d. vMA and Service Console update for openssl to 0.9.8e-12.el5

   SSL is a toolkit implementing SSL v2/v3 and TLS protocols with full-    strength cryptography world-wide.

   Multiple denial of service flaws were discovered in OpenSSL's DTLS    implementation. A remote attacker could use these flaws to cause a    DTLS server to use excessive amounts of memory, or crash on an    invalid memory access or NULL pointer dereference.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the names CVE-2009-1377, CVE-2009-1378,    CVE-2009-1379, CVE-2009-1386, CVE-2009-1387 to these issues.

   An input validation flaw was found in the handling of the BMPString    and UniversalString ASN1 string types in OpenSSL's    ASN1_STRING_print_ex() function. An attacker could use this flaw to    create a specially crafted X.509 certificate that could cause    applications using the affected function to crash when printing    certificate contents.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the name CVE-2009-0590 to this issue.

e. vMA and Service Console package bind updated to 9.3.6-4.P1.el5_4.1

   It was discovered that BIND was incorrectly caching responses    without performing proper DNSSEC validation, when those responses    were received during the resolution of a recursive client query    that requested DNSSEC records but indicated that checking should be    disabled. A remote attacker could use this flaw to bypass the DNSSEC    validation check and perform a cache poisoning attack if the target    BIND server was receiving such client queries.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the name CVE-2009-4022 to this issue.

f. vMA and Service Console package expat updated to 1.95.8-8.3.el5_4.2.

   Two buffer over-read flaws were found in the way Expat handled    malformed UTF-8 sequences when processing XML files. A specially-    crafted XML file could cause applications using Expat to fail while    parsing the file.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the names CVE-2009-3560 and CVE-2009-3720 to these    issues.

g. vMA and Service Console package openssh update to 4.3p2-36.el5_4.2

   A Red Hat specific patch used in the openssh packages as shipped in    Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 (RHSA-2009:1287) loosened certain    ownership requirements for directories used as arguments for the    ChrootDirectory configuration options. A malicious user that also    has or previously had non-chroot shell access to a system could    possibly use this flaw to escalate their privileges and run    commands as any system user.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the name CVE-2009-2904 to this issue.

h. vMA and Service Console package ntp updated to    ntp-4.2.2p1-9.el5_4.1.i386.rpm

   A flaw was discovered in the way ntpd handled certain malformed NTP    packets. ntpd logged information about all such packets and replied    with an NTP packet that was treated as malformed when received by    another ntpd. A remote attacker could use this flaw to create an NTP    packet reply loop between two ntpd servers through a malformed packet    with a spoofed source IP address and port, causing ntpd on those    servers to use excessive amounts of CPU time and fill disk space with    log messages.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the name CVE-2009-3563 to this issue.   

i. vMA update for package kernel to 2.6.18-164.9.1.el5

   Updated vMA package kernel addresses the security issues listed    below.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the name CVE-2009-2849 to the security issue fixed in    kernel 2.6.18-128.2.1

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the names CVE-2009-2695, CVE-2009-2908, CVE-2009-3228,    CVE-2009-3286, CVE-2009-3547, CVE-2009-3613 to the security issues    fixed in kernel 2.6.18-128.6.1

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the names CVE-2009-3612, CVE-2009-3620, CVE-2009-3621,    CVE-2009-3726 to the security issues fixed in kernel    2.6.18-128.9.1

j. vMA 4.0 updates for the packages kpartx, libvolume-id,    device-mapper-multipath, fipscheck, dbus, dbus-libs, and ed

   kpartx updated to 0.4.7-23.el5_3.4, libvolume-id updated to    095-14.20.el5 device-mapper-multipath package updated to    0.4.7-23.el5_3.4, fipscheck updated to 1.0.3-1.el5, dbus    updated to 1.1.2-12.el5, dbus-libs updated to 1.1.2-12.el5,    and ed package updated to 0.2-39.el5_2.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)    has assigned the names CVE-2008-3916, CVE-2009-1189 and    CVE-2009-0115 to these issues.

Miroslav Lichvar discovered that newt, a windowing toolkit, is prone to a buffer overflow in the content processing code, which can lead to the execution of arbitrary code.

A heap-based buffer overflow was found in the way newt used to process content, to be rendered in text dialog box. Local attacker could issue a specially crafted text dialog box rendering request (direct or via custom application), leading to denial of service (application crash) or, potentially, to execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the application.

CVE-2009-2905 has been assigned to this issue.

A vulnerability was discovered and corrected in newt :

A heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in the way newt processes content that is to be displayed in a text dialog box. A local attacker could issue a specially crafted text dialog box display request (direct or via a custom application), leading to a denial of service (application crash) or, potentially, arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running the application using the newt library (CVE-2009-2905).

This update provides a solution to this vulnerability.

Update :

Packages for 2008.0 are provided for Corporate Desktop 2008.0 customers

Fixes a buffer overflow in textbox, which could be exploited to execute arbitrary code.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

Updated newt packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, and 5.

This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

Newt is a programming library for color text mode, widget-based user interfaces. Newt can be used to add stacked windows, entry widgets, checkboxes, radio buttons, labels, plain text fields, scrollbars, and so on, to text mode user interfaces.

A heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in the way newt processes content that is to be displayed in a text dialog box. A local attacker could issue a specially crafted text dialog box display request (direct or via a custom application), leading to a denial of service (application crash) or, potentially, arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running the application using the newt library.
(CVE-2009-2905)

Users of newt should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to correct this issue. After installing the updated packages, all applications using the newt library must be restarted for the update to take effect.

Miroslav Lichvar discovered that Newt incorrectly handled rendering in a text box. An attacker could exploit this and cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user invoking the program.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
89737	VMware ESX Third-Party Libraries Multiple Vulnerabilities (VMSA-2010-0004) (remote check)	Nessus	VMware ESX Local Security Checks	high
79466	OracleVM 2.1 : newt (OVMSA-2009-0026)	Nessus	OracleVM Local Security Checks	medium
67931	Oracle Linux 3 / 4 / 5 : newt (ELSA-2009-1463)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	medium
60670	Scientific Linux Security Update : newt on SL3.x, SL4.x, SL5.x i386/x86_64	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	medium
46794	GLSA-201006-14 : Newt: User-assisted execution of arbitrary code	Nessus	Gentoo Local Security Checks	medium
44993	VMSA-2010-0004 : ESX Service Console and vMA third-party updates	Nessus	VMware ESX Local Security Checks	high
44759	Debian DSA-1894-1 : newt - buffer overflow	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	medium
42325	openSUSE 10 Security Update : libnewt0_52 (libnewt0_52-6504)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
42203	openSUSE Security Update : libnewt0_52 (libnewt0_52-1331)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
42201	openSUSE Security Update : libnewt0_52 (libnewt0_52-1331)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
41640	Mandriva Linux Security Advisory : newt (MDVSA-2009:249-1)	Nessus	Mandriva Local Security Checks	medium
41636	Fedora 11 : newt-0.52.10-4.fc11 (2009-9961)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	medium
41635	Fedora 10 : newt-0.52.10-2.fc10 (2009-9957)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	medium
41627	CentOS 3 / 4 / 5 : newt (CESA-2009:1463)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	medium
41624	Ubuntu 6.06 LTS / 8.04 LTS / 8.10 / 9.04 : newt vulnerability (USN-837-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	medium
41620	RHEL 3 / 4 / 5 : newt (RHSA-2009:1463)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	medium

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2009-2905

critical

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