sendmail security and bug fix update (RHSA-2010-0237)

Original Release Date: May 3, 2010
Last Revised: September 14, 2011
Number: ASA-2010-114
Risk Level: Low
Advisory Version: 2.0
Advisory Status: Final

1. Overview:

Sendmail is a very widely used Mail Transport Agent (MTA). MTAs deliver mail from one machine to another. Sendmail is not a client program, but rather a behind-the-scenes daemon that moves email over networks or the Internet to its final destination.

The configuration of sendmail in Red Hat Enterprise Linux was found to not reject the "localhost.localdomain" domain name for email messages that come from external hosts. This could allow remote attackers to disguise spoofed messages. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2006-7176 to this issue.

A flaw was found in the way sendmail handled NUL characters in the CommonName field of X.509 certificates. An attacker able to get a carefully-crafted certificate signed by a trusted Certificate Authority could trick sendmail into accepting it by mistake, allowing the attacker to perform a man-in-the-middle attack or bypass intended client certificate authentication. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2009-4565 to this issue.

Note: The CVE-2009-4565 issue only affected configurations using TLS with certificate verification and CommonName checking enabled, which is not a typical configuration.

More information about these vulnerabilities can be found in the security advisory issued by RedHat Linux:

2. Avaya System Products using RHEL5 with sendmail installed:

Product: Affected Version(s): Risk Level: Actions:
Avaya IQ IQ 5.0, 5.1 Low Upgrade to IQ 5.2 or later.

Recommended Actions for System Products:
Avaya strongly recommends that customers follow networking and security best practices by implementing firewalls, ACLs, physical security or other appropriate access restrictions. Though Avaya believes such restrictions should always be in place; risk to Avaya's product and the surrounding network from this potential vulnerability may be mitigated by ensuring these practices are implemented until such time as a product update is available or the recommended action is applied. Further restrictions as deemed necessary based on the customer's security policies may be required during this interim period.

3. Avaya Software-Only Products:

Avaya software-only products operate on general-purpose operating systems. Occasionally vulnerabilities may be discovered in the underlying operating system or applications that come with the operating system. These vulnerabilities often do not impact the software-only product directly but may threaten the integrity of the underlying platform.

In the case of this advisory Avaya software-only products are not affected by the vulnerability directly but the underlying Linux platform may be. Customers should determine on which Linux operating system the product was installed and then follow that vendor's guidance.

Product: Actions:
Avaya Aura™ Application Enablement Services 4.x/5.x Depending on the Operating System provided by customers, the affected package may be installed on the underlying Operating System supporting the AES application.
CVLAN Depending on the Operating System provided by customers, the affected package may be installed on the underlying Operating System supporting the CVLAN application.
Avaya Integrated Management Suite (IMS) Depending on the Operating System provided by customers, the affected package may be installed on the underlying Operating System supporting the IMS application.
Avaya Aura™ Presence Services Depending on the Operating System provided by customers, the affected package may be installed on the underlying Operating System supporting the Presence Services application.
Avaya Aura™ System Manager 1.0 Depending on the Operating System provided by customers, the affected package may be installed on the underlying Operating System supporting the SMGR application.
Voice Portal Depending on the Operating System provided by customers, the affected package may be installed on the underlying Operating System supporting the Voice Portal application.

Recommended Actions for Software-Only Products:
In the event that the affected package is installed, Avaya recommends that customers follow recommended actions supplied by RedHat Linux.

4. Additional Information:

Additional information may also be available via the Avaya support website and through your Avaya account representative. Please contact your Avaya product support representative, or dial 1-800-242-2121, with any questions.

5. Disclaimer:

ALL INFORMATION IS BELIEVED TO BE CORRECT AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION AND IS PROVIDED "AS IS". AVAYA INC., ON BEHALF ITSELF AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES AND AFFILIATES (HEREINAFTER COLLECTIVELY REFERRED TO AS "AVAYA"), DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FURTHERMORE, AVAYA MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES THAT THE STEPS RECOMMENDED WILL ELIMINATE SECURITY OR VIRUS THREATS TO CUSTOMERS' SYSTEMS. IN NO EVENT SHALL AVAYA BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE INFORMATION OR RECOMMENDED ACTIONS PROVIDED HEREIN, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, STATUTORY, CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF AVAYA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HERE DOES NOT AFFECT THE SUPPORT AGREEMENTS IN PLACE FOR AVAYA PRODUCTS. SUPPORT FOR AVAYA PRODUCTS CONTINUES TO BE EXECUTED AS PER EXISTING AGREEMENTS WITH AVAYA.

6. Revision History:

V 1.0 - May 3, 2010 - Initial Statement issued.
V 2.0 - September 14, 2011 - Changed IQ affected versions and actions and advisory status to final.

Send information regarding any discovered security problems with Avaya products to either the contact noted in the product's documentation or securityalerts@avaya.com.

© 2010 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks identified by the ® or ™ are registered trademarks or trademarks, respectively, of Avaya Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.