The Portable Tool Library (aka PTLib) before 2.10.10, as used in Ekiga before 4.0.1, does not properly detect recursion during entity expansion, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory and CPU consumption) via a crafted PXML document containing a large number of nested entity references, aka a "billion laughs attack."

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - The Portable Tool Library (aka PTLib) before 2.10.10, as used in Ekiga before 4.0.1, does not properly     detect recursion during entity expansion, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service     (memory and CPU consumption) via a crafted PXML document containing a large number of nested entity     references, aka a billion laughs attack. (CVE-2013-1864)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

This update fixes a XML DoS vulnerability in pwlib. CVE-2013-1864 has been assigned to this issue.

According to the version in its SIP banner, the installed version of Ekiga on the remote host is earlier than 4.0.1 and thus contains a version of the ptlib library that fails to conduct proper length checks during XML expansion.  A remote, unauthenticated attacker could exploit this issue to consume extreme amounts of CPU and memory through the use of a specially crafted XML document.

New upstream ekiga 4.0.1 release

  - Core fixes

    - Fix crash when quitting ekiga while receiving presence       information

    - Fix crash when quitting ekiga right after starting it       (before STUN ending)

    - Fix crash when disabling an account while icons in       roster are changing

    - Fix crash when receiving call a second time

    - Fix crash in XML parsing in case of malicious code       (CVE-2012-5621)

    - Fix increasing CPU usage after hours of usage caused       by endless OPTIONS

    - Several fixes for H.323 :

    - fix H.323 parsing

    - add the username in authentication

    - fix unregistering the gatekeeper

    - fix registration

    - assign gk_name only if success

    - do not propose adding an H.323 account if the protocol       is not built-in

    - Fix registration for registrars accepting the last       Contact item offered

    - Allow to change the REGISTER compatibility mode of an       existing registration

    - Fix impossibility to hangup active call after a missed       call

    - Fix busy or call forwarding on busy occuring when       connection is released

    - Fix subscribing/unsubscribing when enabling and       disabling SIP accounts

    - Do not show is-typing messages sent by other programs       during chatting

    - Stop ongoing registration when remove account

    - Use meaningful names for ALSA sub-devices

    - Allow to enter contact addresses without host part,       and choose the host later

    - Increase number of characters shown in device names

    - Use a better icon for call history in addressbook

    - Show the address instead of 'telephoneNumber' in       addressbook

    - Deactivate NullAudio ptlib's device for audio input       too

    - Do not send OPTIONS messages once the account is       disabled

    - Hide the main window immediately on exit

    - Handle xa status as away

    - Fix debugging message when registering

    - Fix race condition leading to duplicate entry in call       history

    - Fix incoming call if two INVITE's in a fork arrive       very close together

    - Use correct username in OPTIONS messages

    - Allow to have message waiting indication even if       asterisk's vmexten is off

    - Send OPTION only on the right interface

    - Fix buttons direction in dialpad for RTL languages

    - Fix aborting RTP receiver with Polycom HDX8000

    - Fix possible incorrect jitter calculation for RTCP

    - Only kill REGISTER/SUBSCRIBE forks if a 'try again'       response is received

    - Various other fixes

    - Distributor-visible changes

    - Build fixes

    - Fix building opal when java SDK installed and swig is       not

    - Some code cleanup

    - Translation updates

    - Update translations: fr, ml, pt_BR

    - Update help translations: pt_BR

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.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
217869	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2013-1864	Nessus	Misc.	high
72536	SuSE 11.3 Security Update : pwlib (SAT Patch Number 8838)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
66033	Ekiga < 4.0.1 ptlib XML Expansion Recursion DoS	Nessus	Denial of Service	medium
64984	Fedora 18 : ekiga-4.0.1-1.fc18 / opal-3.10.10-1.fc18 / ptlib-2.10.10-1.fc18 (2013-2998)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	medium

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2013-1864

high

Tenable Plugins

high

medium

medium

medium