I Security Issues

 a. Setting ActiveX kill bit

     Starting from this release, VMware has set the kill bit on its      ActiveX controls. Setting the kill bit ensures that ActiveX      controls cannot run in Internet Explorer (IE), and avoids      security issues involving ActiveX controls in IE. See the      Microsoft KB article 240797 and the related references on this      topic.

     Security vulnerabilities have been reported for ActiveX controls      provided by VMware when run in IE. Under specific circumstances,      exploitation of these ActiveX controls might result in denial-of-      service or can allow running of arbitrary code when the user      browses a malicious Web site or opens a malicious file in IE      browser. An attempt to run unsafe ActiveX controls in IE might      result in pop-up windows warning the user.
       Note: IE can be configured to run unsafe ActiveX controls without            prompting.  VMware recommends that you retain the default            settings in IE, which prompts when unsafe actions are            requested.

     Earlier, VMware had issued knowledge base articles, KB 5965318 and      KB 9078920 on security issues with ActiveX controls. To avoid      malicious scripts that exploit ActiveX controls, do not enable      unsafe ActiveX objects in your browser settings. As a best      practice, do not browse untrusted Web sites as an administrator      and do not click OK or Yes if prompted by IE to allow certain      actions.

     VMware would like to thank Julien Bachmann, Shennan Wang, Shinnai,      and Michal Bucko for reporting these issues to us.

     The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)      has assigned the names CVE-2008-3691, CVE-2008-3692,      CVE-2008-3693, CVE-2008-3694, CVE-2008-3695, CVE-2007-5438, and      CVE-2008-3696 to the security issues with VMware ActiveX controls.

 b. VMware ISAPI Extension Denial of Service

     The Internet Server Application Programming Interface (ISAPI) is      an API that extends the functionality of Internet Information      Server (IIS). VMware uses ISAPI extensions in its Server product.

     One of the ISAPI extensions provided by VMware is vulnerable to a      remote denial of service. By sending a malformed request, IIS      might shut down. IIS 6.0 restarts automatically. However, IIS 5.0      does not restart automatically when its Startup Type is set to      Manual.

     VMware would like to thank the Juniper Networks J-Security      Security Research Team for reporting this issue to us.

     The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)      has assigned the name CVE-2008-3697 to this issue.

 c. OpenProcess Local Privilege Escalation on Host System

     This release fixes a privilege escalation vulnerability in host      systems.  Exploitation of this vulnerability allows users to run      arbitrary code on the host system with elevated privileges.

     VMware would like to thank Sun Bing from McAfee, Inc. for      reporting this issue to us.

     The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)      has assigned the name CVE-2008-3698 to this issue.

 d. Update to Freetype

     FreeType 2.3.6 resolves an integer overflow vulnerability and other      vulnerabilities that can allow malicious users to run arbitrary code      or might cause a denial-of-service after reading a maliciously      crafted file. This release updates FreeType to 2.3.7.

     The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.com)      has assigned the names CVE-2008-1806, CVE-2008-1807, and      CVE-2008-1808 to the issues resolved in Freetype 2.3.6.

 e. Update to Cairo

     Cairo 1.4.12 resolves an integer overflow vulnerability that can      allow malicious users to run arbitrary code or might cause a      denial-of-service after reading a maliciously crafted PNG file.
     This release updates Cairo to 1.4.14.

     The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (cve.mitre.com) has      assigned the name CVE-2007-5503 to this issue.

  f. VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) command-line utilities may expose      sensitive information

     VMware Consolidated Backup command-line utilities accept the user      password through the -p command-line option. Users logged into the      ESX service console or into the system that runs VCB could gain      access to the username and password used by VCB command-line utilities      when such commands are running.

     The ESX patch and the new version of VCB resolve this issue by      providing an alternative way of passing the password used by VCB      command-line utilities.

     VCB in ESX
     ----------      The following options are recommended for passing the password :

     1. The password is specified in /etc/backuptools.conf      (PASSWORD=xxxxx), and -p is not used in the command line.
     /etc/backuptools.conf file permissions are read/write only      for root.

     2. No password is specified in /etc/backuptools.conf and the
     -p option is not used in the command line. The user will be       prompted to enter a password.

     ESX is not affected unless you use VCB.

     Stand-alone VCB
     ---------------      The following options are recommended for passing the password :

     1. The password is specified in config.js (PASSWORD=xxxxx), and -p      is not used in the command line. The file permissions on config.js      are read/write only for the administrator. The config.js file is      located in folder 'config' of the VCB installation folder. For example,      C:\Program Files\Vmware\Vmware Consolidated Backup Framework\config.

     2. The password is specified in the registry, and is not specified in      config.js, and -p is not used in the command line. Access to the      registry key holding the password is allowed only to the administrator.
     The location of the registry key is :
     On Windows x86: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\                      VMware Consolidated Backup\Password      On Windows x64: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\                      VMware, Inc.\VMware Consolidated Backup\Password

     3. The password is not specified in the registry, and is not specified in      config.js, and -p is not used in the command line. The user will be      prompted to enter a password.

     The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org)      has assigned the name CVE-2008-2101 to this issue.

  g. Third-Party Library libpng Updated to 1.2.29

     Several flaws were discovered in the way third-party library      libpng handled various PNG image chunks. An attacker could      create a carefully crafted PNG image file in such a way that      it causes an application linked with libpng to crash when the      file is manipulated.

     The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org)      has assigned the name CVE-2007-5269 to this issue.

     NOTE: There are multiple patches required to remediate the issue.

II ESX Service Console rpm updates

  a. update to bind

     This update upgrades the service console rpms for bind-utils and      bind-lib to version 9.2.4-22.el3.

     Version 9.2.4.-22.el3 addresses the recently discovered      vulnerability in the BIND software used for Domain Name      resolution (DNS). VMware doesn't install all the BIND packages      on ESX Server and is not vulnerable by default to the reported      vulnerability. Of the BIND packages, VMware only ships bind-util      and bind-lib in the service console and these components by      themselves cannot be used to setup a DNS server. Bind-lib and      bind-util are used in client DNS applications like nsupdate,      nslookup, etc.

     VMware explicitly discourages installing applications like BIND      on the service console. In case the customer has installed BIND,      and the DNS server is configured to support recursive queries,      their ESX Server system is affected and they should replace BIND      with a patched version.

     Note: ESX Server will use the DNS server on the network it is      on, so it is important to patch that DNS server.

     The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org)      has assigned the name CVE-2008-1447 to this issue.

Detections

Analytics

VMSA-2008-0014 : Updates to VMware Workstation, VMware Player, VMware ACE, VMware Server, VMware ESX, VMware VCB address information disclosure, privilege escalation and other security issues.

medium Nessus Plugin ID 40382

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