15 september, 2009
| Document Audience: | PUBLIC | |
| Document ID: | 266908 | |
| Title: | Security vulnerability in Solaris Pidgin (see pidgin(1)), Versions Prior to 2.5.9 may Lead to Execution of Arbitrary Code or a Denial of Service (DoS) Condition | |
| Copyright Notice: | Copyright © 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved | |
| Update Date: | Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 MDT 2009 | |
Solution Type Sun Alert
Solution 266908 : Security vulnerability in Solaris Pidgin (see pidgin(1)), Versions Prior to 2.5.9 may Lead to Execution of Arbitrary Code or a Denial of Service (DoS) Condition
Bug ID
6875021
ProductSolaris 10 Operating System OpenSolaris
Date of Workaround Release14-Sep-2009
SA Document BodyA heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the MSN protocol handler of libpurple(3):
1. ImpactA heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the MSN protocol handler of libpurple(3), the shared library that adds support for various instant messaging networks to the pidgin(1) Instant Messaging client (previously known as Gaim), may allow remote unprivileged users to execute arbitrary code or cause a Denial of Service (DoS) through an application crash.
Additional information on this issue can be found in the following document:
CVE-2009-2694 at:
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-2694
2. Contributing Factors
These issues can occur in the following releases:
SPARC Platform
- Solaris 10
- OpenSolaris based upon builds snv_01 or later
- Solaris 10
- OpenSolaris based upon builds snv_01 or later
Note 2: This issue only affects systems that have the Pidgin IM client installed. All versions of Pidgin, up to and including versions 2.5.8 are affected by this issue.
To determine if Pidgin is installed on the system and to check the version of Pidgin installed, the following command may be used:
$ /usr/bin/pidgin -v || echo "Pidgin IM client not installed"
Note 3: OpenSolaris builds prior to snv_68, and Solaris 10 without patches 119548-11 (for SPARC) or 119549-11 (for x86) include the Gaim Instant Messaging client and not Pidgin. Gaim versions 0.79 and later are affected by this issue.To determine if Gaim is installed on the system and to check the version of Gaim installed, the following command may be used:
$ /usr/bin/gaim -v || echo "Gaim IM client not installed"
Note 4: OpenSolaris distributions may include additional bug fixes above and beyond the build from which it was derived. To determine the base build of OpenSolaris, the following command can be used: $ uname -v
snv_86
If the described issue has been exploited to cause a Denial of Service (DoS), Pidgin will crash, potentially leaving a core file depending on the system configuration.
There are no predictable symptoms that would indicate that this issue has been exploited to execute arbitrary code.
4. Workaround
To mitigate the impact of the described issue, the privacy settings of MSN accounts in Pidgin may be changed as follows:
- Open Pidgin's Buddy List window
- Click on Tools -> Privacy
5. Resolution
A final resolution is pending completion.
For more information on Security Sun Alerts, see Technical Instruction ID 213557.
Copyright 2000-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, CA 95054 U.S.A. All rights reserved.