binutils security update

Synopsis

binutils security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Low

Topic

An updated binutils package that fixes several bugs and minor security
issues is now available.

This update has been rated as having low security impact by the Red Hat
Security Response Team.

Description

Binutils is a collection of utilities used for the creation of executable
code. A number of bugs were found in various binutils tools.

Several integer overflow bugs were found in binutils. If a user is tricked
into processing a specially crafted executable with utilities such as
readelf, size, strings, objdump, or nm, it may allow the execution of
arbitrary code as the user running the utility. The Common Vulnerabilities
and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2005-1704
to this issue.

Additionally, the following bugs have been fixed:

• - correct alignment of .tbss section if the requested alignment
  of .tbss is bigger than requested alignment of .tdata section
  
• - by default issue an error if IA-64 hint@pause instruction is
  put into the B slot, add assembler command line switch to
  override this behaviour
  

All users of binutils should upgrade to this updated package, which
contains backported patches to 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 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 3 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 157983 - gcc produces inadequate alignment for __thread vars
• BZ - 164364 - CAN-2005-1704 Integer overflow in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library

CVEs

• CVE-2005-1704

References

(none)