NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: JASON MESERVE
on SECURITY AND BUG PATCH ALERT
06/07/01 - Today's focus: File execution flaw in Eudora 5.1

Dear Wincenty Kaminski,

In this issue:

* Patches and alerts for Eudora, Red Hat, SuSE, others
* Viruses, including a worm that claims to hold pictures of
  Miss World pageant contestants
* The huge potential for Windows XP to unleash DoS attacks,
  plus other interesting reading

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Today's focus: File execution flaw in Eudora 5.1

By Jason Meserve (write me at jmeserve@nww.com)

Today's bug patches and security alerts:


* File execution security hole in Eudora 5.1

A flaw in the way Eudora 5.1 handles file attachments could
allow for malicious code to be run on the affected system
without the user's permission. No patch is currently available,
although users are being urged to disable the "Use Microsoft
viewer..." option, which is normally turned on by default. For
more on Eudora: http://www.eudora.com/


* Red Hat issues new version of ispell

Red Hat has released new versions of its ispell package for
Versions 5.2 and 6.2 of its Linux operating system. Previous
versions of the package used temporary files that are
vulnerable to a symlink attack. For more information and to
download the upgrades:
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2001-074.html


* New xinetd packages available for Red Hat

Red Hat has released new versions of its xinetd package for Red
Hat Linux 7.0 and 7.1 that fixes a problem in the way the
application uses certain file permissions. Previous versions of
the software created world-writeable files. This patch sets
these files to the permission '022.' For more information and
to download a patch:
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2001-075.html


* SuSE issues new version of GnuPG/gpg

A flaw in GnuPG (or gpg as its called by SuSE), an open-source
version of the PGP encryption standard, could allow a user's
private key to be compromised. The format string vulnerability
allows a malicious user to execute arbitrary code on the
affected system, which could help speed the process of
discovering the user's private key information. For more on
this flaw and to download patches:
http://www.suse.com/de/support/security/2001_020_gpg_txt.txt


* PassWD2000 uses weak encryption

According to a post on the BugTraq mailing list, PassWD 2000, a
utility for storing user passwords, uses a weak encryption
standard that makes it easy for a hacker to gain access to the
secret password store. Though the application uses a 128-bit
encryption key, it is relatively easy to extract the key
information. According to the vendor, Version 3.0 of the
software will use Blowfish to protect the password information.
For more: http://www.passwd2000.com/


Today's roundup of virus alerts:


* W32/MissWorld - This e-mail-borne worm comes in an e-mail
titled "Miss World" and claims to be pictures of the Miss
World competition contestants. After displaying a Flash file,
the virus sends itself out to users listed in an Outlook
address book and adds items to the autoexec.bat file that could
erase the infected user's hard drive. (Sophos)

* WM97/Wrench-N - A Word macro virus that attempts to display
the Office Assistant, but a broken payload prevents the virus
from working correctly. The virus also drops the file
"ASCII.VXD" in the infected machine's root directory.
(Sophos)


>From the interesting reading department:


* Windows XP could unleash wave of DoS attacks

Windows XP, Microsoft's forthcoming operating system, has the
potential to escalate denial-of-service attacks to a level
never before seen, according to a computer security researcher.
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2001/0606winxp.html
IDG News Service, 06/06/01


* Researcher: DDoS attacks are growing threats

Distributed denial-of-service attacks are growing in number and
sophistication, though tools to fight them are just over the
horizon, said Stefan Savage, a researcher at the University of
California at San Diego and the founder and chief scientist at
Asta Networks. http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2001/0606ddos.html
IDG News Service, 06/06/01

For additional information, see Steve Gibson's "Anatomy of
DDoS attack": http://grc.com/dos/grcdos.htm


* EU plans antihacking law in Internet security drive

As part of an effort to raise the level of online security in
the European Union, the European Commission Wednesday said it
has begun work on a computer-hacking law.
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2001/0606euantihack.html
IDG News Service, 06/06/01


* OpenBSD drops firewall program in licensing dispute

When an Australian software developer tightened licensing
restrictions on his firewall program last month, he set off a
chain of events that has caused a big controversy among the
open-source developers who work on the OpenBSD operating
system. http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2001/0601bsd1.html
Computerworld, 06/01/01


* Check Point partners for data center, app server security

Check Point Software is announcing at SuperComm 2001 three
partnerships that will result in firewall and VPN protection
for data centers as well as application servers.
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2001/0606checkpoint.html
Network World Fusion, 06/06/01


* RSA launches ACE/Server 5.0

RSA Security Monday announced the release of Version 5.0 of its
ACE/Server user authentication security software. RSA
ACE/Server is one component of the company's SecurID
authentication system, which also includes RSA SecurID
Authenticator and RSA ACE/Agent. SecurID Authenticator is a
small device, or token, given to users, and ACE/Agent is
software that is installed on the protected systems. ACE/Server
is "the brains behind SecurID," and the system won't work
without it, said John Worrall, the director of product
management for strong authentication at RSA.
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2001/0604rsa.html
IDG News Service, 06/04/01


* Archives available online

Is there really a revealing picture of Jennifer Lopez being
passed around the Internet? Find out the naked truth at:
http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/bug/index.html

_______________________________________________________________
To contact Jason Meserve:

Jason Meserve is the Multimedia Editor of Network World
Fusion and writes about streaming media, search engines and
IP Multicast. Jason can be reached at mailto:jmeserve@nww.com.
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