format string vulnerability in Gnats

[Khan Shirani <khan_shirani () yahoo com>]

Zone-h Security Advisory 
Date of discovery : 21 june 2004
Date of release : 24 june 2004
Bug found by Khan Shirani
<shirani () zone-h org>
http://www.zone-h.org

---------------------------------------
Software : GNU Gnats 4.00
Bugs : formats string bug(s)
Risk : low/medium
Platform : *nix
---------------------------------------


Description:
============

GNU GNATS is a set of tools for tracking bugs reported by users to a central site. 
It allows problem report management and communication with users via various means. 
GNATS stores all the information about problem reports 
in its databases and provides tools for querying, editing, and maintenance of the databases. 
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnats/


Vulnerability:
==============

A format string bug has been discovered in the Gnats package which 
could *possibly* be exploited to execute arbitrary commands.


vulnerable code:
================


----------------------
gnats-4.0\gnats\misc.c

#ifdef HAVE_SYSLOG_H
case SYSLOG:
syslog (severity, buf);
break;
#endif
----------------------


Vendor Notice:
==============

The Gnats team has been notified of the discoveries via <bug-gnats () gnu org>
No patch is available at this time


Copyright
=========

Contents may not be altered without notification to original author
permission is granted to reproduce this advisory on public databases.


shirani () zone-h org
and all the zone-h team.
http://www.zone-h.org