Issued:
2004-12-13
Updated:
2004-12-13

RHSA-2004:600 - apache, mod_ssl security update

Synopsis

apache, mod_ssl security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Moderate

Topic

Updated apache and mod_ssl packages that fix various minor security issues and bugs in the Apache Web server are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1.

Description

The Apache HTTP Server is a powerful, full-featured, efficient, and freely-available Web server. The mod_ssl module provides strong cryptography for the Apache Web server via the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols.

A buffer overflow was discovered in the mod_include module. This flaw could allow a local user who is authorized to create server-side include (SSI) files to gain the privileges of a httpd child (user 'apache'). The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2004-0940 to this issue.

The mod_digest module does not properly verify the nonce of a client response by using a AuthNonce secret. This could allow a malicious user who is able to sniff network traffic to conduct a replay attack against a website using Digest protection. Note that mod_digest implements an older version of the MD5 Digest Authentication specification, which is known not to work with modern browsers. This issue does not affect mod_auth_digest. (CAN-2003-0987).

An issue has been discovered in the mod_ssl module when configured to use the "SSLCipherSuite" directive in a directory or location context. If a particular location context has been configured to require a specific set of cipher suites, then a client is able to access that location using any cipher suite allowed by the virtual host configuration. (CAN-2004-0885).

Several bugs in mod_ssl were also discovered, including:

  • memory leaks in SSL variable handling

  • possible crashes in the dbm and shmht session caches

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 users of the Apache HTTP Server should upgrade to these erratum packages, which contains Apache version 1.3.27 with backported patches correcting 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:

This content is not included.http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation2ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation2i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server2ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server2i386

Updated Packages

  • apache-devel-1.3.27-9.ent.i386.rpm
  • mod_ssl-2.8.12-7.ia64.rpm
  • apache-devel-1.3.27-9.ent.ia64.rpm
  • mod_ssl-2.8.12-7.i386.rpm
  • apache-manual-1.3.27-9.ent.ia64.rpm
  • apache-manual-1.3.27-9.ent.i386.rpm
  • apache-1.3.27-9.ent.ia64.rpm
  • apache-1.3.27-9.ent.i386.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

(none)

Additional information