RHSA-2003:073

Vulnerability from csaf_redhat - Published: 2003-03-03 17:04 - Updated: 2025-11-21 17:25
Summary
Red Hat Security Advisory: : Updated sendmail packages fix critical security issues

Notes

Topic
Updated Sendmail packages are available to fix a vulnerability that may allow remote attackers to gain root privileges by sending a carefully crafted message. These packages also fix a security bug if sendmail is configured to use smrsh.
Details
Sendmail is a widely used Mail Transport Agent (MTA) which is included in all Red Hat Linux distributions. During a code audit of Sendmail by ISS, a critical vulnerability was uncovered that affects unpatched versions of Sendmail prior to version 8.12.8. A remote attacker can send a carefully crafted email message which, when processed by sendmail, causes arbitrary code to be executed as root. We are advised that a proof-of-concept exploit is known to exist, but is not believed to be in the wild. Since this is a message-based vulnerability, MTAs other than Sendmail may pass on the carefully crafted message. This means that unpatched versions of Sendmail inside a network could still be at risk even if they do not accept external connections directly. In addition, the restricted shell (SMRSH) in Sendmail allows attackers to bypass the intended restrictions of smrsh by inserting additional commands after "||" sequences or "/" characters, which are not properly filtered or verified. A sucessful attack would allow an attacker who has a local account on a system which has explicitly enabled smrsh to execute arbitrary binaries as themselves by utilizing their .forward file. All users are advised to update to these erratum packages. For Red Hat Linux 8.0 we have included Sendmail version 8.12.8 which is not vulnerable to these issues. For all other distributions we have included a backported patch which corrects these vulnerabilities. Red Hat would like to thank Eric Allman for his assistance with this vulnerability.
Terms of Use
This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). If you distribute this content, or a modified version of it, you must provide attribution to Red Hat Inc. and provide a link to the original.
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{
  "document": {
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      "text": "Critical"
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    "category": "csaf_security_advisory",
    "csaf_version": "2.0",
    "distribution": {
      "text": "Copyright \u00a9 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved.",
      "tlp": {
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        "url": "https://www.first.org/tlp/"
      }
    },
    "lang": "en",
    "notes": [
      {
        "category": "summary",
        "text": "Updated Sendmail packages are available to fix a vulnerability that\nmay allow remote attackers to gain root privileges by sending a\ncarefully crafted message.\n\nThese packages also fix a security bug if sendmail is configured to use smrsh.",
        "title": "Topic"
      },
      {
        "category": "general",
        "text": "Sendmail is a widely used Mail Transport Agent (MTA) which is included\nin all Red Hat Linux distributions.\n\nDuring a code audit of Sendmail by ISS, a critical vulnerability was\nuncovered that affects unpatched versions of Sendmail prior to version\n8.12.8.  A remote attacker can send a carefully crafted email message\nwhich, when processed by sendmail, causes arbitrary code to be\nexecuted as root.\n\nWe are advised that a proof-of-concept exploit is known to exist, but\nis not believed to be in the wild.\n\nSince this is a message-based vulnerability, MTAs other than Sendmail\nmay pass on the carefully crafted message.  This means that unpatched\nversions of Sendmail inside a network could still be at risk even if\nthey do not accept external connections directly.\n\nIn addition, the restricted shell (SMRSH) in Sendmail  allows attackers to\nbypass the intended restrictions of smrsh by inserting additional commands\nafter \"||\" sequences or \"/\" characters, which are not properly filtered or\nverified.  A sucessful attack would allow an attacker who has a local\naccount on a system which has explicitly enabled smrsh to execute arbitrary\nbinaries as themselves by utilizing their .forward file. \n\nAll users are advised to update to these erratum packages.  For Red Hat\nLinux 8.0 we have included Sendmail version 8.12.8 which is not vulnerable\nto these issues.  For all other distributions we have included a backported\npatch which corrects these vulnerabilities.\n\nRed Hat would like to thank Eric Allman for his assistance with this\nvulnerability.",
        "title": "Details"
      },
      {
        "category": "legal_disclaimer",
        "text": "This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). If you distribute this content, or a modified version of it, you must provide attribution to Red Hat Inc. and provide a link to the original.",
        "title": "Terms of Use"
      }
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    "publisher": {
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      },
      {
        "category": "external",
        "summary": "http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-07.html",
        "url": "http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-07.html"
      },
      {
        "category": "external",
        "summary": "http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=bugtraq\u0026m=103350914307274",
        "url": "http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=bugtraq\u0026m=103350914307274"
      },
      {
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        "summary": "Canonical URL",
        "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/advisories/2003/rhsa-2003_073.json"
      }
    ],
    "title": "Red Hat Security Advisory: : Updated sendmail packages fix critical security issues",
    "tracking": {
      "current_release_date": "2025-11-21T17:25:41+00:00",
      "generator": {
        "date": "2025-11-21T17:25:41+00:00",
        "engine": {
          "name": "Red Hat SDEngine",
          "version": "4.6.12"
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      },
      "id": "RHSA-2003:073",
      "initial_release_date": "2003-03-03T17:04:00+00:00",
      "revision_history": [
        {
          "date": "2003-03-03T17:04:00+00:00",
          "number": "1",
          "summary": "Initial version"
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        {
          "date": "2003-02-07T00:00:00+00:00",
          "number": "2",
          "summary": "Last updated version"
        },
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          "date": "2025-11-21T17:25:41+00:00",
          "number": "3",
          "summary": "Last generated version"
        }
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      "status": "final",
      "version": "3"
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  "vulnerabilities": [
    {
      "cve": "CVE-2002-1165",
      "ids": [
        {
          "system_name": "Red Hat Bugzilla ID",
          "text": "1616854"
        }
      ],
      "notes": [
        {
          "category": "description",
          "text": "Sendmail Consortium\u0027s Restricted Shell (SMRSH) in Sendmail 8.12.6, 8.11.6-15, and possibly other versions after 8.11 from 5/19/1998, allows attackers to bypass the intended restrictions of smrsh by inserting additional commands after (1) \"||\" sequences or (2) \"/\" characters, which are not properly filtered or verified.",
          "title": "Vulnerability description"
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      "product_status": {
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        },
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          "date": "2003-03-03T17:04:00+00:00",
          "details": "Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata\nrelevant to your system have been applied.\n\nTo update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:\n\nrpm -Fvh [filenames]\n\nwhere [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade.  Only those\nRPMs which are currently installed will be updated.  Those RPMs which are\nnot installed but included in the list will not be updated.  Note that you\ncan also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the\ndesired RPMs.\n\nPlease note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network.  Many\npeople find this an easier way to apply updates.  To use Red Hat Network,\nlaunch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:\n\nup2date\n\nThis will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate\nRPMs being upgraded on your system.",
          "product_ids": [
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            "Red Hat Linux 7.0",
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          ],
          "restart_required": {
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          "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2003:073"
        }
      ],
      "threats": [
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          "details": "Low"
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      "title": "security flaw"
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          "system_name": "Red Hat Bugzilla ID",
          "text": "1616877"
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        {
          "category": "description",
          "text": "Buffer overflow in Sendmail 5.79 to 8.12.7 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via certain formatted address fields, related to sender and recipient header comments as processed by the crackaddr function of headers.c.",
          "title": "Vulnerability description"
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        },
        {
          "category": "external",
          "summary": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2002-1337",
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        },
        {
          "category": "external",
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        }
      ],
      "release_date": "2003-03-03T00:00:00+00:00",
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        {
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          "date": "2003-03-03T17:04:00+00:00",
          "details": "Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata\nrelevant to your system have been applied.\n\nTo update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:\n\nrpm -Fvh [filenames]\n\nwhere [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade.  Only those\nRPMs which are currently installed will be updated.  Those RPMs which are\nnot installed but included in the list will not be updated.  Note that you\ncan also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the\ndesired RPMs.\n\nPlease note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network.  Many\npeople find this an easier way to apply updates.  To use Red Hat Network,\nlaunch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:\n\nup2date\n\nThis will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate\nRPMs being upgraded on your system.",
          "product_ids": [
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          "url": "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2003:073"
        }
      ],
      "threats": [
        {
          "category": "impact",
          "details": "Critical"
        }
      ],
      "title": "security flaw"
    }
  ]
}


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Sightings

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Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.



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