KDE Security Advisory: PS/PDF file handling vulnerability

[Dirk Mueller <mueller () kde org>]

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KDE Security Advisory: PS/PDF file handling vulnerability
Original Release Date: 2003-04-09
URL: http://www.kde.org/info/security/advisory-20030409-1.txt

0. References
        http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=53157
        http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=53343
        http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56808

1. Systems affected:

        All KDE 2 and KDE 3 versions up to and including KDE 3.1.1.

2. Overview:

        KDE uses Ghostscript software for processing of PostScript (PS) 
        and PDF files in a way that allows for the execution of arbitrary 
        commands that can be contained in such files.

        An attacker can prepare a malicious PostScript or PDF file which will 
        provide the attacker with access to the victim's account and privileges 
        when the victim opens this malicious file for viewing or when the 
        victim browses a directory containing such malicious file and has
        file previews enabled.

        An attacker can provide malicious files remotely to a victim in an 
        e-mail, as part of a webpage, via an ftp server and possible other 
        means.

3. Impact:

        The vulnerabilities potentially enable local or remote attackers
        to compromise the privacy of a vicitim's data and to execute arbitrary
        shell commands with the victim's privileges, such as erasing files or 
        accessing or modifying data. 

4. Solution:

        The affected applications have been fixed in KDE 3.0.5b and
        KDE 3.1.1a, both released today. We strongly recommend upgrading
        to these releases. 

        KDE 3.0.5b can be downloaded from

        http://download.kde.org/stable/3.0.5b/

        KDE 3.1.1a can be downloaded from

        http://download.kde.org/stable/3.1.1a/

        Please note that the KDE 3.1.1a release only consists of updates
        to the affected KDE packages.

        For affected KDE 2 systems, two patches for the 2.2.2 source code 
        have been made available which fixes these vulnerabilities. Contact 
        your OS vendor / binary package provider for information about how 
        to obtain updated binary packages.

        People unable to upgrade to a version of KDE in which these problems
        have been fixed can, as a temporary workaround, remove the following
        files from their KDE installation: 
                thumbnail.protocol
                eps.kimgio
                kghostview.desktop
                kdvi.desktop
        After doing so KDE should be restarted. Note that this reduces KDE's
        functionality in areas related to file previews, print previews and 
        limits the ability to handle PostScript (PS), PDF and DVI files.

5. Patch:

        Patches for KDE 3.1.1 are available from

        ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/security_patches :

        a2ca01c77918b13464f2d1fc0858d6f0  post-3.1.1-kdebase-thumbnail.diff
        38e2483c835239185c9c895e82079dea  post-3.1.1-kdegraphics-kdvi.diff
        a64ab67e3d5ab5fdbfe444fd6e1764b7  post-3.1.1-kdegraphics-kghostview.diff
        9ef02df4d21b9040ef488b6f97e3e93a  post-3.1.1-kdelibs-kimgio.diff


        Patches for KDE 3.0.5a are available from

        ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/security_patches :

        b2e823b0a46ef2d949118f7fded7092e  post-3.0.5a-kdebase-thumbnail.diff
        8c783fbe36d25b30b4fc2c91777906a6  post-3.0.5a-kdegraphics-kdvi.diff
        952ec6e4ddafd7d833106b78df2d342f  post-3.0.5a-kdegraphics-kghostview.diff
        604d8de4116d0a4c4896521b03884a06  post-3.0.5a-kdelibs-kimgio.diff


        Patches for KDE 2.2.2 are available from 

        ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/security_patches :

        002e297cb41705f9b744f6cc64e9d79e  post-2.2.2-kdebase-thumbnail.diff
        a0a87a2f7617e83c831d1a9c2588830e  post-2.2.2-kdegraphics-kdvi.diff
        1e7520b590e6573446487efb3995d8a3  post-2.2.2-kdegraphics-kghostview-2.diff
        e2c50fb7c97e1fbc8939e30a30054e45  post-2.2.2-kdelibs-kimgio.diff


6. Timeline and credits:

        04/03/2003 Notification of security () kde org by Maksim Orlovich
                   about bugreport 53157, filed by Philipp Hullmann and
                   bugreport 56808, filed by Keith Winstein.
        04/06/2003 OS vendors / binary package providers alerted.
        04/07/2003 OS vendors / binary package providers provided with 
                   patches.
        04/09/2003 Public Security Advisory by the KDE Security team.


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-- 
Dirk