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gzip contains an array out-of-bounds vulnerability in make_table()

Vulnerability Note VU#381508

Original Release Date: 2006-09-19 | Last Revised: 2011-07-22

Overview

The gzip program contains a stack modification vulnerability that may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, or create a denial-of-service condition..

Description

The gzip program is used to compress and decompress archived files.

A stack modification vulnerability exists in gzip. An attacker may be able to exploit this vulnerability by convincing a user to open a specially crafted gzip file.

Note that the attacker could either convince a user to open a malicious gzip file, or save the file in a place where another program would call gzip to decompress the archive.

Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code, or create a denial-of-service condition..

Solution

Upgrade
This issue has been addressed in gzip 1.3.6. See the systems affected section of this document for information about specific vendors.


Workarounds
Until updates can be applied, the following workarounds may mitigate the impact of this vulnerability:

    • Do not decompress gzip files that are received from unknown sources.
    • Do not execute gzip with system-level privileges.
    • Some automated processes may rely on gzip to complete their tasks. When possible, disable such programs or do not allow them to execute gzip with root privileges.

Vendor Information

381508
 
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References

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Tavis Ormandy, Google Security Team for reporting this issue.

This document was written by Ryan Giobbi.

Other Information

CVE IDs: CVE-2006-4335
Severity Metric: 1.57
Date Public: 2006-06-19
Date First Published: 2006-09-19
Date Last Updated: 2011-07-22 12:54 UTC
Document Revision: 56

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