-fetchmail-SA-2007-02: Crash when local warning message is rejected
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-Topics: Crash when fetchmail-generated warning message is rejected
+fetchmail-SA-2007-02: Crash when a local warning message is rejected
+
+Topics: Crash when a fetchmail-generated warning message is rejected
Author: Matthias Andree
-Version: 1.0
-Announced: 2007-07-29
+Version: 1.1
+Announced: 2007-08-28
Type: NULL pointer dereference trigged by outside circumstances
Impact: denial of service possible
Danger: low
+CVSS V2 vector: (AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C/E:?/RL:O/RC:C)
+
Credits: Earl Chew
CVE Name: CVE-2007-4565
-URL: http://fetchmail.berlios.de/fetchmail-SA-2007-02.txt
-Project URL: http://fetchmail.berlios.de/
+URL: http://www.fetchmail.info/fetchmail-SA-2007-02.txt
+Project URL: http://www.fetchmail.info/
-Affects: fetchmail release < 6.3.9
+Affects: fetchmail release < 6.3.9 exclusively
-Not affected: fetchmail release 6.3.9 (not yet available)
+Not affected: fetchmail release 6.3.9 and newer
+ fetchmail releases < 4.6.8 exclusively
Corrected: 2007-07-29 fetchmail SVN (rev 5119)
==================
2007-07-29 1.0 first draft for MITRE/CVE (visible in SVN)
+2007-08-28 1.1 reworked, added fix, official release
1. Background
2. Problem description and Impact
=================================
-fetchmail will generated warning messages to the local postmaster or user in
-certain circumstances, for instance when authentication fails.
+fetchmail will generate warning messages in certain circumstances and
+send them to the local postmaster or the user starting it. Such warning
+messages can be generated, for instance, if logging into an upstream
+server fails repeatedly or if messages beyond the size limit (if
+configured, default: no limit) are left on the server.
+
+If this warning message is then refused by the SMTP listener that
+fetchmail is forwarding the message to, fetchmail attempts to
+dereference a NULL pointer when trying to find out if it should allow a
+bounce message to be sent.
+
+This causes fetchmail to crash and not collect further messages until it
+is restarted.
-If this warning message is refused by the SMTP listener that fetchmail is
-talking to, fetchmail attempts to dereference a NULL pointer when trying to find
-out if it should allow a bounce message to be sent.
+Risk assessment: low. In default configuration, fetchmail will talk
+through the loopback interface, that means to the SMTP server on the same
+computer as it is running on. Otherwise, it will commonly be configured
+to talk to trusted SMTP servers, so a compromise or misconfiguration of
+a trusted or the same computer is required to exploit this problem -
+which usually opens up much easier ways of denying service, or worse.
3. Solution
===========
-Install fetchmail 6.3.9 or newer. The fetchmail source code is available from
-<http://developer.berlios.de/project/showfiles.php?group_id=1824>.
+There are two alternatives, either of them by itself is sufficient:
+
+a. Apply the patch found in section B of this announcement to fetchmail 6.3.8,
+ recompile and reinstall it.
+
+b. Install fetchmail 6.3.9 or newer when it becomes available. The
+ fetchmail source code is available from
+ <http://developer.berlios.de/project/showfiles.php?group_id=1824>.
+
+Note there are no workarounds presented here since all known workarounds
+are more intrusive than the actual solution.
A. Copyright, License and Warranty
THIS WORK IS PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES.
Use the information herein at your own risk.
+
+
+B. Patch to remedy the problem
+==============================
+
+Index: sink.c
+===================================================================
+- --- sink.c (revision 5118)
++++ sink.c (revision 5119)
+@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@
+ const char *md1 = "MAILER-DAEMON", *md2 = "MAILER-DAEMON@";
+
+ /* don't bounce in reply to undeliverable bounces */
+- - if (!msg->return_path[0] ||
++ if (!msg || !msg->return_path[0] ||
+ strcmp(msg->return_path, "<>") == 0 ||
+ strcasecmp(msg->return_path, md1) == 0 ||
+ strncasecmp(msg->return_path, md2, strlen(md2)) == 0)
+
END OF fetchmail-SA-2007-02.txt
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