Slackware Linux 15.0 / current c-ares Multiple Vulnerabilities (SSA:2023-142-01)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 176217

Synopsis

The remote Slackware Linux host is missing a security update to c-ares.

Description

The version of c-ares installed on the remote host is prior to 1.19.1. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SSA:2023-142-01 advisory.

- c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. When /dev/urandom or RtlGenRandom() are unavailable, c-ares uses rand() to generate random numbers used for DNS query ids. This is not a CSPRNG, and it is also not seeded by srand() so will generate predictable output. Input from the random number generator is fed into a non-compilant RC4 implementation and may not be as strong as the original RC4 implementation. No attempt is made to look for modern OS-provided CSPRNGs like arc4random() that is widely available. This issue has been fixed in version 1.19.1. (CVE-2023-31147)

- c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. When cross-compiling c-ares and using the autotools build system, CARES_RANDOM_FILE will not be set, as seen when cross compiling aarch64 android. This will downgrade to using rand() as a fallback which could allow an attacker to take advantage of the lack of entropy by not using a CSPRNG. This issue was patched in version 1.19.1. (CVE-2023-31124)

- c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. ares_inet_net_pton() is vulnerable to a buffer underflow for certain ipv6 addresses, in particular 0::00:00:00/2 was found to cause an issue. C-ares only uses this function internally for configuration purposes which would require an administrator to configure such an address via ares_set_sortlist(). However, users may externally use ares_inet_net_pton() for other purposes and thus be vulnerable to more severe issues. This issue has been fixed in 1.19.1. (CVE-2023-31130)

- c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. c-ares is vulnerable to denial of service. If a target resolver sends a query, the attacker forges a malformed UDP packet with a length of 0 and returns them to the target resolver. The target resolver erroneously interprets the 0 length as a graceful shutdown of the connection. This issue has been patched in version 1.19.1. (CVE-2023-32067)

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Upgrade the affected c-ares package.

See Also

http://www.nessus.org/u?4984d967

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 176217

File Name: Slackware_SSA_2023-142-01.nasl

Version: 1.4

Type: local

Published: 5/22/2023

Updated: 8/2/2023

Supported Sensors: Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.4

Temporal Score: 4.7

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2023-31147

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.5

Temporal Score: 5.7

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:slackware:slackware_linux:15.0, cpe:/o:slackware:slackware_linux, p-cpe:/a:slackware:slackware_linux:c-ares

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/Slackware/release, Host/Slackware/packages

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 5/22/2023

Vulnerability Publication Date: 5/22/2023

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2023-31124, CVE-2023-31130, CVE-2023-31147, CVE-2023-32067