Re: [pgsql-www] FW: (AUSCERT ESB-2003.0563) CERT Advisory CA-2003-21

Ouch.

Wu-FTPd has probably the worst track record on the planet for FTP vulnerabilities.

:(

There are quite a few others out there.  From memory, Red Hat 9 has changed to one called "VSFTPd" by default.

Personally, in regards to knowing which FTP server is the best, I'm better to leave it to others to figure that one
out.

:)

Regards and best wishes,

Justin Clift


The Hermit Hacker wrote:
> any idea what version of ftp they are/were running?  I may be blind, but I
> dont' see it in the announce, and its not showing up when you ftp into
> them :(  We're running a fairly recent wu-ftpd, but just want to make
> sure:
>
>     Version wu-2.6.2(1) Wed Jun 4 18:22:39 GMT 2003
>
> On Thu, 14 Aug 2003, Justin Clift wrote:
>
>
>>Hi guys,
>>
>>Not sure if people have or haven't seen this already.
>>
>>The GNU Project's FTP servers were root compromised some time ago, and it was only discovered recently.
>>
>>:-(
>>
>>Regards and best wishes,
>>
>>Justin Clift
>>
>>
>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From:    auscert@auscert.org.au
>>>Sent:    Thursday, 14 August 2003 1:59 pm
>>>To:    auscert-subscriber@auscert.org.au
>>>Subject:    (AUSCERT ESB-2003.0563) CERT Advisory CA-2003-21 - GNU Project FTP Server Compromise
>>>
>>>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>>
>>>===========================================================================
>>>             AUSCERT External Security Bulletin Redistribution
>>>
>>>                 ESB-2003.0563 -- CERT Advisory CA-2003-21
>>>                     GNU Project FTP Server Compromise
>>>                              14 August 2003
>>>
>>>===========================================================================
>>>
>>>        AusCERT Security Bulletin Summary
>>>        ---------------------------------
>>>
>>>Product:                GNU Software
>>>Publisher:              CERT/CC
>>>Impact:                 Root Compromise
>>>                        Execute Arbitrary Code/Commands
>>>Access Required:        Remote
>>>
>>>- --------------------------BEGIN INCLUDED TEXT--------------------
>>>
>>>- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>>
>>>CERT Advisory CA-2003-21 GNU Project FTP Server Compromise
>>>
>>>   Original issue date: August 13, 2003
>>>   Last revised: --
>>>   Source: CERT/CC
>>>
>>>   A complete revision history is at the end of this file.
>>>
>>>Overview
>>>
>>>   The  CERT/CC has received a report that the system housing the primary
>>>   FTP servers for the GNU software project was compromised.
>>>
>>>I. Description
>>>
>>>   The GNU Project, principally sponsored by the Free Software Foundation
>>>   (FSF),  produces  a  variety of freely available software. The CERT/CC
>>>   has  learned  that  the system housing the primary FTP servers for the
>>>   GNU  software  project,  gnuftp.gnu.org,  was  root  compromised by an
>>>   intruder.  The more common host names of ftp.gnu.org and alpha.gnu.org
>>>   are  aliases  for  the  same  compromised  system.  The  compromise is
>>>   reported to have occurred in March of 2003.
>>>
>>>   The FSF has released an announcement describing the incident.
>>>
>>>   Because  this  system  serves  as  a  centralized  archive  of popular
>>>   software,  the  insertion  of  malicious  code  into  the  distributed
>>>   software  is  a  serious  threat. As the above announcement indicates,
>>>   however,  no  source  code  distributions  are  believed  to have been>
>>>   maliciously modified at this time.
>>>
>>>II. Impact
>>>
>>>   The  potential  exists  for  an  intruder to have inserted back doors,
>>>   Trojan   horses,   or  other  malicious  code  into  the  source  code
>>>   distributions of software housed on the compromised system.
>>>
>>>III. Solution
>>>
>>>   We   encourage   sites  using  the  GNU  software  obtained  from  the
>>>   compromised system to verify the integrity of their distribution.
>>>
>>>   Sites  that  mirror  the  source  code  are  encouraged  to verify the
>>>   integrity of their sources. We also encourage users to inspect any and
>>>   all  other software that may have been downloaded from the compromised
>>>   site.  Note that it is not always sufficient to rely on the timestamps
>>>   or  file  sizes  when trying to determine whether or not a copy of the
>>>   file has been modified.
>>>
>>>Verifying checksums
>>>
>>>   The  FSF has produced PGP-signed lists of known-good MD5 hashes of the
>>>   software packages housed on the compromised server. These lists can be
>>>   found at
>>>
>>>          ftp://ftp.gnu.org/before-2003-08-01.md5sums.asc
>>>          ftp://alpha.gnu.org/before-2003-08-01.md5sums.asc
>>>
>>>   Note that both of these files and the announcement above are signed by
>>>   Bradley  Kuhn,  Executive  Director of the FSF, with the following PGP
>>>   key:
>>>
>>>pub  1024D/DB41B387 1999-12-09 Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@fsf.org>
>>>     Key fingerprint = 4F40 645E 46BE 0131 48F9  92F6 E775 E324 DB41 B387
>>>uid                            Bradley M. Kuhn (bkuhn99) <bkuhn@ebb.org>
>>>uid                            Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@gnu.org>
>>>sub  2048g/75CA9CB3 1999-12-09
>>>
>>>   The CERT/CC believes this key to be valid.
>>>
>>>   As a matter of good security practice, the CERT/CC encourages users to
>>>   verify,  whenever  possible, the integrity of downloaded software. For
>>>   more information, see IN-2001-06.
>>>
>>>Appendix A. - Vendor Information
>>>
>>>   This  appendix  contains  information  provided  by  vendors  for this
>>>   advisory.  As  vendors  report new information to the CERT/CC, we will
>>>   update this section and note the changes in our revision history. If a
>>>   particular  vendor  is  not  listed  below, we have not received their
>>>   comments.
>>>
>>>Free Software Foundation
>>>
>>>
>>>   The current files on alpha.gnu.org and ftp.gnu.org as of 2003-08-02 have
>>>   all been verified, and their md5sums and the reasons we believe the
>>>   md5sums can be trusted are in:
>>>
>>>       ftp://ftp.gnu.org/before-2003-08-01.md5sums.asc
>>>       ftp://alpha.gnu.org/before-2003-08-01.md5sums.asc
>>>
>>>   We are updating that file and the site as we confirm good md5sums of
>>>   additional files.  It is theoretically possible that downloads between
>>>   March 2003 and July 2003 might have been source-compromised, so we
>>>   encourage everyone to re-download sources and compare with the current
>>>   copies for files on the site.
>>>
>>>Appendix B. References
>>>
>>>     * FSF      announcement      regarding      the      incident      -
>>>       ftp://ftp.gnu.org/MISSING-FILES.README
>>>     * CERT Incident Note IN-2001-06 -
>>>       http://www.cert.org/incident_notes/IN-2001-06.html
>>>     _________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>   The  CERT/CC  thanks Bradley Kuhn and Brett Smith of the Free Software
>>>   Foundation for their timely assistance in this matter.
>>>     _________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>   Feedback can be directed to the author: Chad Dougherty.
>>>   ______________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>   This document is available from:
>>>   http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-21.html
>>>   ______________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>CERT/CC Contact Information
>>>
>>>   Email: cert@cert.org
>>>          Phone: +1 412-268-7090 (24-hour hotline)
>>>          Fax: +1 412-268-6989>
>>>          Postal address:
>>>          CERT Coordination Center
>>>          Software Engineering Institute
>>>          Carnegie Mellon University
>>>          Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890
>>>          U.S.A.
>>>
>>>   CERT/CC   personnel   answer  the  hotline  08:00-17:00  EST(GMT-5)  /
>>>   EDT(GMT-4)  Monday  through  Friday;  they are on call for emergencies
>>>   during other hours, on U.S. holidays, and on weekends.
>>>
>>>Using encryption
>>>
>>>   We  strongly  urge you to encrypt sensitive information sent by email.
>>>   Our public PGP key is available from
>>>   http://www.cert.org/CERT_PGP.key
>>>
>>>   If  you  prefer  to  use  DES,  please  call the CERT hotline for more
>>>   information.
>>>
>>>Getting security information
>>>
>>>   CERT  publications  and  other security information are available from
>>>   our web site
>>>   http://www.cert.org/
>>>
>>>   To  subscribe  to  the CERT mailing list for advisories and bulletins,
>>>   send  email  to majordomo@cert.org. Please include in the body of your
>>>   message
>>>
>>>   subscribe cert-advisory
>>>
>>>   *  "CERT"  and  "CERT  Coordination Center" are registered in the U.S.
>>>   Patent and Trademark Office.
>>>   ______________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>   NO WARRANTY
>>>   Any  material furnished by Carnegie Mellon University and the Software
>>>   Engineering  Institute  is  furnished  on  an  "as is" basis. Carnegie
>>>   Mellon University makes no warranties of any kind, either expressed or
>>>   implied  as  to  any matter including, but not limited to, warranty of
>>>   fitness  for  a  particular purpose or merchantability, exclusivity or
>>>   results  obtained from use of the material. Carnegie Mellon University
>>>   does  not  make  any warranty of any kind with respect to freedom from
>>>   patent, trademark, or copyright infringement.
>>>   ______________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>   Conditions for use, disclaimers, and sponsorship information
>>>
>>>   Copyright 2002 Carnegie Mellon University.
>>>
>>>   Revision History
>>>August 13, 2003: Initial release
>>>
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>>>
>>>- --------------------------END INCLUDED TEXT--------------------
>>>
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>>>        http://www.auscert.org.au/render.html?cid=1980
>>>
>>>If you believe that your computer system has been compromised or attacked in
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>>>
>>>        http://www.auscert.org.au/render.html?it=3192
>>>
>>>Internet Email: auscert@auscert.org.au
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>>
>>
>>---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
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>
>
> Marc G. Fournier                   ICQ#7615664               IRC Nick: Scrappy
> Systems Administrator @ hub.org
> primary: scrappy@hub.org           secondary: scrappy@{freebsd|postgresql}.org