Re: SGI security problem with telnetd. TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!! (fwd)

===============================================================================
Robb Kambic                                Unidata Program Center
Software Engineer III                      Univ. Corp for Atmospheric Research
address@hidden             WWW: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/
===============================================================================

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 16:16:25 -0400
From: Ted Jackson <address@hidden>
To: Pete Pokrandt <address@hidden>
Subject: Re: SGI security problem with telnetd. TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!! (fwd)

I can't say for all versions, but some versions of Irix, if the /.rhosts
file contains the "+ +" line as shown below, will also allow any user to
'su' without prompting for a password at all.

Ted Jackson


On Tue, 15 Aug 2000, Pete Pokrandt wrote:


Hi all,

Kinda off topic, but I know lots of folks run the ldm on SGI machines
and I wanted to provide a heads-up for this vulnerability.

Exploit scripts are easily available, so this should be fixed ASAP.

Pete


------- Forwarded Message

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 13:09:22 -0500
Subject: SGI security problem with telnetd. TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!!

Please read this mesage carefully if you are responsible for the
administration
of an SGI workstation connected to the Internet!!

SGI has acknowledged a security problem with the telnetd on all SGI
systems running IRIX (SGI Security Advisory, Number:  20000801-01-A).
The text of this announcement is attached for your information.

Please take immediate action:

Check your system for this intrusion. Use cat to see the content of the
/.rhosts file (if it exists): cat /.rhosts
If the output contains one or more lines like "+ +", delete the file
immediately!

Disable the telnetd immediately!!

Here is how to do that:

- ----
      Disabling telnetd daemon will disable the telnet service.

     1) Become the root user on the system.

              % /bin/su -
              Password:
              #


     2) Edit the file /etc/inetd.conf (for IRIX 5.3 and lower,
        edit /usr/etc/inetd.conf) with your favorite text editor.
        Place a "#" as the first character of the line to comment out
        and deactivate the telnetd daemon.

              # vi /etc/inetd.conf

        {Find the following line}

              telnet stream  tcp  nowait  root  /usr/etc/telnetd  telnetd

        {Place a "#" as the first character of the telnet line}

              #telnet stream  tcp  nowait  root  /usr/etc/telnetd  telnetd

        {Save the file}


     3) Force inetd to re-read the configuration file.

              # /etc/killall -HUP inetd


     4) Kill any existing telnetd process.

              # /etc/killall telnetd


     5) Return to previous level.

              # exit
              %

- -----

Check your system log file (/var/adm/SYSLOG) for suspicious entries. I will
get back to those later.



Please check our web site for more on this
(www.nmrfam.wisc.edu/Varsity/Support).
We will update this page as soon as we learn more about the intrusions.

I have included the Security announcement from SGI as an attachment.


[204.94.214.22]) by siri.nmrfam.wisc.edu
(980427.SGI.8.8.8/980728.SGI.AUTOCF) via ESMTP id SAA75843 for
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id QAA08137; Mon, 14 Aug 2000 16:51:01 -0700 (PDT)
        mail_from (address@hidden)
(980427.SGI.8.8.8/970903.SGI.AUTOCF) id PAA23977 for wiretap-outgoing; Mon,
14 Aug 2000 15:13:37 -0700 (PDT)
relay1.corp.sgi.com (980427.SGI.8.8.8/970903.SGI.AUTOCF) via ESMTP id
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(PDT)
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- -0700 (PDT)
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 15:13:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: address@hidden (SGI Security Coordinator)
Message-Id: <address@hidden>
X-Mailer: Z-Mail-SGI (3.2S.3 08feb96 MediaMail)
To: address@hidden
Subject: IRIX telnetd vulnerability
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Sender: address@hidden



- --=====================_966380962==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="SGI security problem with telne"

- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

______________________________________________________________________________
                           SGI Security Advisory

         Title:  IRIX telnetd vulnerability
        Number:  20000801-01-A
          Date:  August 14, 2000
______________________________________________________________________________

SGI provides this information freely to the SGI user community for its
consideration, interpretation, implementation and use.   SGI recommends
that this information be acted upon as soon as possible.

SGI provides the information in this Security Advisory on an "AS-IS" basis
only, and disclaims all warranties with respect thereto, express, implied
or otherwise, including, without limitation, any warranty of merchantability
or fitness for a particular purpose.  In no event shall SGI be liable for
any loss of profits, loss of business, loss of data or for any indirect,
special, exemplary, incidental or consequential damages of any kind arising
from your use of, failure to use or improper use of any of the instructions
or information in this Security Advisory.
______________________________________________________________________________


SGI acknowledges the telnetd vulnerability reported by LSD on BUGTRAQ and
is currently investigating. No further information is available at this time.

As further information becomes available, additional advisories will be
issued via the normal SGI security information distribution methods
including the wiretap mailing list.

For the protection of all our customers, SGI does not disclose, discuss
or confirm vulnerabilities until a full investigation has occurred and
any necessary patch(es) or release streams are available for all vulnerable
and supported Unicos, SGI ProPack for Linux and IRIX operating systems.

Until SGI has more definitive information to provide, customers
are encouraged to assume all security vulnerabilities as exploitable and take
appropriate steps according to local site security policies and requirements.

The steps below can be used to disable IRIX telnetd daemon, if needed.

      ================
      ****  NOTE  ****
      ================

      Disabling telnetd daemon will disable the telnet service.

     1) Become the root user on the system.

              % /bin/su -
              Password:
              #


     2) Edit the file /etc/inetd.conf (for IRIX 5.3 and lower,
        edit /usr/etc/inetd.conf) with your favorite text editor.
        Place a "#" as the first character of the line to comment out
        and deactivate the telnetd daemon.

              # vi /etc/inetd.conf

        {Find the following line}

              telnet stream  tcp  nowait  root  /usr/etc/telnetd  telnetd

        {Place a "#" as the first character of the telnet line}

              #telnet stream  tcp  nowait  root  /usr/etc/telnetd  telnetd

        {Save the file}


     3) Force inetd to re-read the configuration file.

              # /etc/killall -HUP inetd


     4) Kill any existing telnetd process.

              # /etc/killall telnetd


     5) Return to previous level.

              # exit
              %


- - -----------------------------------------
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                      ------oOo------

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the URL http://www.sgi.com/support/security/ .

For issues with the patches on the FTP sites, email can be sent to
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For assistance obtaining or working with security patches, please
contact your SGI support provider.

                      ------oOo------

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                      ------oOo------

SGI provides a comprehensive customer World Wide Web site. This site is
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                      ------oOo------

For reporting *NEW* SGI security issues, email can be sent to
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______________________________________________________________________________
    This information is provided freely to all interested parties and
    may be redistributed provided that it is not altered in any way,
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    its valid PGP signature.

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