[Triumf-linux-managers] FYI: NSS heap buffer overflow vulnerability [CVE-2016-1950]

[Andrew Daviel]

FYI

EGI reports a 'critical' vulnerability in the NSS library

References
==========

[R 1] https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-1950
[R 2] https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0370.html
[R 3] https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-1950
[R 4] http://people.canonical.com/~ubuntu-security/cve/2016/CVE-2016-1950.html


This should be automatically patched by yum update etc.
Firefox and Thunderbird are also linked with their own copy of NSS, so 
there should be an update for that, too, which should have been applied recently, or will 
be tonight.

                                Package
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5      nss 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6      nss-util
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7      nss-util




Quote:
"A heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in the way NSS parsed 
certain ASN.1 structures. An attacker could use this flaw to create a 
specially crafted certificate which, when parsed by NSS, could cause it 
to crash, or execute arbitrary code, using the permissions of the user 
running an application compiled against the NSS library."

I believe it's only a threat to a server if it's set up to allow 
SSL certificates for authentication, which most aren't. But 
that's just my opinion.


-- 
Andrew Daviel, TRIUMF, Canada
Tel. +1 (604) 222-7376  (Pacific Time)
Network Security Manager