Mountd Vulnerabilities
CVE 1999-0002
CVE 1999-0832
Impact
A vulnerability in mountd or nfsd could allow a
remote attacker to cause a buffer to overflow, and to use the
resulting condition to execute arbitrary code with root
privileges.
Background
Network File System (NFS) is a service
which allows a server to make file systems available to
clients. The clients can mount NFS file systems
and make them available locally. mountd is the
process on the server which handles requests from clients to
mount file systems.
The Problem
CVE 1999-0002
Some versions of mountd on Linux operating
systems have a buffer overflow
condition which could allow a remote attacker to gain root
access. Other operating systems are not affected.
CVE 1999-0832
Some versions of nfsd on Linux operating systems
could also have a buffer overflow condition whereby a remote attacker
could execute arbitrary commands by removing a directory with a very
long name. The attacker would require read and write access to
an exported filesystem in order to exploit this vulnerability.
Resolution
If the system is not being used as an NFS
server, then disable the mountd and nfsd processes.
Otherwise, install a patch to fix the vulnerability.
Check the references below for information about obtaining patches
for your particular version of Linux.
Where can I read more about this?
More about the vulnerability in mountd can be found in
CERT Advisory 1998-12. More about the vulnerability in nfsd
can be found in the X-Force
advisory.