Scientific Linux Security Update : mailx on SL6.x, SL7.x i386/x86_64 (20141216)

high Nessus Plugin ID 80075

Synopsis

The remote Scientific Linux host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

A flaw was found in the way mailx handled the parsing of email addresses. A syntactically valid email address could allow a local attacker to cause mailx to execute arbitrary shell commands through shell meta-characters and the direct command execution functionality.
(CVE-2004-2771, CVE-2014-7844)

Note: Applications using mailx to send email to addresses obtained from untrusted sources will still remain vulnerable to other attacks if they accept email addresses which start with '-' (so that they can be confused with mailx options). To counteract this issue, this update also introduces the '--' option, which will treat the remaining command line arguments as email addresses.

Solution

Update the affected mailx and / or mailx-debuginfo packages.

See Also

http://www.nessus.org/u?a2f605e6

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 80075

File Name: sl_20141216_mailx_on_SL6_x.nasl

Version: 1.7

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 12/17/2014

Updated: 1/14/2021

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

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

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: x-cpe:/o:fermilab:scientific_linux, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:mailx-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:mailx

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, Host/RedHat/release, Host/RedHat/rpm-list

Patch Publication Date: 12/16/2014

Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/24/2014

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2004-2771, CVE-2014-7844