Title: NSI Rwhoisd Remote Format String Vulnerability
Severity: CRITICAL
Description:
Rwhoisd is a publicly available RWHOIS server daemon for Unix based systems developed and maintained by Network Solutions Inc.
Rwhoisd contains a remotely exploitable format string vulnerability. It is possible to overwrite memory within the rwhoisd process if a remote client supplies malicious format specifiers as the argument to the '-soa' directive.
Rwhoisd uses a standard function to print error messages called 'print_error()'. The function is a wrapper for a 'printf' function; it is passed a format string and a variable number of arguments. When the '-soa' command is recieved from a client, the 'print_error()' function is passed the externally-supplied argument as the format string. If the client includes 'printf' format-specifiers in the arugment, they are interpreted and acted upon as part of the legitimate format string.
It is possible to supply a format string that will cause a location in memory to be overwritten with an almost arbitrary value. Attackers may be able to replace function pointers, return addresses or other critical values and cause instructions injected into memory to be executed.
Successful exploitation may allow for remote attackers to gain local access to the target server. Though Rwhoisd is not typically run with root privileges; it is significantly easier for attackers to elevate to superuser access once local access is gained.
Affected Products:
- Network Solutions rwhoisd 1.5.0
- Network Solutions rwhoisd 1.5.1a
- Network Solutions rwhoisd 1.5.2
- Network Solutions rwhoisd 1.5.3
- Network Solutions rwhoisd 1.5.5
- Network Solutions rwhoisd 1.5.6
- Network Solutions rwhoisd 1.5.7
- Network Solutions rwhoisd 1.5.7.1
Juniper Networks provides this content via a wide variety of sources and production methods. If notified of errors or omissions in the content of this page, Juniper Networks, at its discretion, will modify or remove the page or leave the content as is, depending on various factors including but not limited to the reputation and authority of the party providing the notification. Please use the contact information displayed elsewhere on this page to report any errors or omissions regarding the content on this page.
