glibc security update

Synopsis

glibc security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

Updated glibc packages that fix a security flaw in the resolver as well as
dlclose handling are now available.

Description

The GNU libc packages (known as glibc) contain the standard C libraries
used by applications.

A security audit of the glibc packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1
found a flaw in the resolver library which was originally reported as
affecting versions of ISC BIND 4.9. This flaw also applied to glibc
versions before 2.3.2. An attacker who is able to send DNS responses
(perhaps by creating a malicious DNS server) could remotely exploit this
vulnerability to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service. The
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned
the name CAN-2002-0029 to this issue.

These updated packages also fix a dlclose function bug on certain shared
libraries, which caused program crashes.

All users of glibc should upgrade to these updated packages, which
resolve these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied. Use Red Hat
Network to download and update your packages. To launch the Red Hat
Update Agent, use the following command:

up2date

For information on how to install packages manually, refer to the
following Web page for the System Administration or Customization
guide specific to your system:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 120907 - umount passes randmon flags to sys_umount in kernel

CVEs

• CVE-2002-0029

References

(none)