2.14.4, 2.16.1 Security Advisory

Thursday, Jan 2nd, 2003

2.14.4, 2.16.1 Security Advisory

January 2nd, 2003

Severity: major (remote database password disclosure, bug 186383)
          minor (local file permissions, bug 183188)

Summary
=======

All Bugzilla installations are advised to upgrade to the latest versions
of Bugzilla, 2.14.5 and 2.16.2, both released today. Security issues of
varying importance have been fixed in both branches.  These vulnerabilities
affect all previous 2.14 and 2.16 releases.

Development snapshots prior to version 2.17.3 are also affected, so if you
are using a development snapshot, you should obtain a newer one or use CVS
to update.

2.14.x users are additionally encouraged to upgrade to 2.16.2 as soon as
possible, as this is the last 2.14.x release and the 2.14 branch will no
longer be supported by the Bugzilla team.

This advisory covers two security bugs: one involves incorrect local
permissions on a directory, allowing local users access. The other involves
protecting configuration information leaks due to backup files created by
editors.

Vulnerability Details
=====================

The following security issues were fixed in 2.14.5, 2.16.2, and 2.17.3:

- The provided data collection script intended to be run as a nightly cron
  job changes the permissions of the data/mining directory to be world-
  writable every time it runs. This would enable local users to alter or
  delete the collected data.  (Bugzilla bug 183188 / Bugtraq ID 6502).

- The default .htaccess scripts provided by checksetup.pl do not block
  access to backups of the localconfig file that might be created by
  editors such as vi or emacs (typically these will have a .swp or ~
  suffix).  This allows an end user to download one of the backup copies
  and potentially obtain your database password.  If you already have such
  an editor backup in your bugzilla directory it would be advisable to
  change your database password in addition to upgrading.

  In addition, we also continue to recommend hardening access to the
  Bugzilla database user account by limiting access to the account to
  the machine Bugzilla is served from (typically localhost); consult the
  MySQL documentation for more information on how to accomplish this.
  (Bugzilla bug 186383 / Bugtraq ID 6501)

Also included in these releases are the patches that were posted as part
of our earlier security advisory on November 26th, 2002.  (Bugzilla bug
179329, Bugtraq ID 6257 - see
http://online.securityfocus.com/archive/1/301316 )

Vulnerability Solutions
=======================

The fixes for both security bugs contained in this release, as well as the
previously announced security bug involving cross-site scripting
vulnerabilities are contained in the 2.14.5, 2.16.2, and 2.17.3 releases.
Upgrading to these releases will protect installations against
exploitation of these security bugs.

Individual patches to upgrade Bugzilla are available at:
  https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/webtools/
  (these patches are only valid for 2.14.4 and 2.16.1 users).

Full release downloads and CVS upgrade instructions are available at:
  https://www.bugzilla.org/download.html

References
==========

Complete bug reports for the security bugs covered herein may be obtained
at:
   https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=183188
   https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=186383

General information about the Bugzilla bug-tracking system can be found at
   https://www.bugzilla.org/

Comments and follow-ups can be directed to the
netscape.public.mozilla.webtools newsgroup or the mozilla-webtools mailing
list; https://www.mozilla.org/community.html has directions for accessing
these forums.

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