Tutorial - SNMP to DMI Mapper

SNMP to DMI Mapper

Updated 9/10/01
CVE 2001-0236

Impact

A vulnerability in snmpXdmid could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges.

Background

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and the Distributed Management Interface (DMI) are used to manage networks and distributed computer systems, respectively. Although the two are not inherently interoperable, many applications require them to be due to their similar functionality. This problem is solved by the SNMP to DMI mapper daemon (snmpXdmid), a service which translates SNMP requests to the DMI standard.

The Problem

A buffer overflow in the procedure which handles an indication could be exploited to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges.

Solaris 8 is affected by this vulnerability. It is likely that Solaris 2.6 and 7 are affected as well.

Resolution

This vulnerability can be fixed by applying the appropriate patch as indicated in Sun Security Bulletin 207.

An alternative solution is to simply disable snmpXdmid if it is not needed at your site. This can be achieved by entering the command:

/etc/init.d/init.dmi stop

Also, disable it in the boot scripts by finding every file in every /etc/rc*.d directory called S*dmi (where * matches any number) and renaming it to K07dmi.

Where can I read more about this?

See CERT Advisory 2001-05 and Sun Security Bulletin 207.