One of the underlying pillars of Java, the Sun Java Runtime Environment, has critical vulnerabilities reported this week. Worth a look.
Also worth a look, but for a more satisfying reason, is the SANS 2009 program (in Orlando, the first week in March) because that's where you'll find SANS best instructors teaching their latest material - plus a big expo, lots of evening networking sessions, and just a short stroll from the hotel entrance to the Disneyworld entrance. More info: http://www.sans.org/sans2009 Alan
@RISK is the SANS community's consensus bulletin summarizing the most important vulnerabilities and exploits identified during the past week and providing guidance on appropriate actions to protect your systems (PART I). It also includes a comprehensive list of all new vulnerabilities discovered in the past week (PART II).
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Part I for this issue has been compiled by Rob King at TippingPoint, a division of 3Com, as a by-product of that company's continuous effort to ensure that its intrusion prevention products effectively block exploits using known vulnerabilities. TippingPoint's analysis is complemented by input from a council of security managers from twelve large organizations who confidentially share with SANS the specific actions they have taken to protect their systems. A detailed description of the process may be found at http://www.sans.org/newsletters/cva/#process
Description: The Sun Java Runtime Environment is the de facto standard implementation of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). The Sun JRE contains multiple vulnerabilities in its handling of a variety of inputs, including image files, authentication mechanisms, web sites, and others. Successfully exploiting these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to perform a variety of actions, including executing arbitrary code with the privileges of the current user. Java applets and applications are often opened upon receipt, without first prompting the user. Sun's JRE is installed by default on all Sun Solaris, Apple Mac OS X, and other Unix and Linux-based operating systems, and is often installed on Microsoft Windows systems. Some technical details are publicly available for these vulnerabilities.
Status: Vendor confirmed, updates available.
Description: Trillian is a popular multi-protocol instant messaging application from Cerulean Studios. It contains multiple vulnerabilities in its handling of messages. A specially crafted message sent to a user cold trigger one of these vulnerabilities, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the current user. In some cases, the user is prompted before entering into a vulnerable situation. Some technical details are publicly available for these vulnerabilities.
Status: Vendor confirmed, updates available.
Description: CUPS is the Common Unix Printing System. It is used to provide printing services on a variety of Unix and Linux-based operating systems. It was recently acquired by Apple, but is an open source product that is widely deployed on non-Apple operating systems. It contains a flaw in its handling of Portable Network Graphics (PNG) images. A specially crafted network print request containing a specially crafted PNG image could trigger this vulnerability, leading to an integer overflow vulnerability. Successfully exploiting this vulnerability may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the vulnerable process, though this has not been confirmed. Full technical details for this vulnerability are publicly available.
Status: Vendor confirmed, updates available.
Description: ClamAV is a popular open source antivirus engine. It contains a flaw in its parsing of JPEG images, which can result in a denial-of-service condition. Successfully exploiting this denial-of-service condition could allow attackers to bypass malware detection and lead to further exploits. In common configurations, all that is necessary for exploitation is to send a malicious JPEG as an email attachment to a vulnerable service. Full technical details are publicly available for this vulnerability.
Status: Vendor confirmed, updates available.
This list is compiled by Qualys ( www.qualys.com ) as part of that company's ongoing effort to ensure its vulnerability management web service tests for all known vulnerabilities that can be scanned. As of this week Qualys scans for 5549 unique vulnerabilities. For this special SANS community listing, Qualys also includes vulnerabilities that cannot be scanned remotely.
(c) 2008. All rights reserved. The information contained in this newsletter, including any external links, is provided "AS IS," with no express or implied warranty, for informational purposes only. In some cases, copyright for material in this newsletter may be held by a party other than Qualys (as indicated herein) and permission to use such material must be requested from the copyright owner.
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