sendmail security update (RHSA-2006-0515)

Original Release Date: August 15, 2006
Last Revised: November 6, 2007
Number: ASA-2006-139
Risk Level: Low
Advisory Version: 3.0
Advisory Status: Final

1. Overview:

Sendmail is an application for communicating electronic mail messages between hosts on a network, typically via the Simple Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

Sendmail was discovered to contain a vulnerability in its parsing of multi-part MIME messages. A remote attacker could possibly take advantage of this flaw by sending a specially constructed message that would cause Sendmail to crash during the processing of the message. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2006-1173 to this issue.

The default configuration of Sendmail on Red Hat Enterprise Linux is to only accept connections from the local system. As such, for a remote attacker to actually be able to take advantage of this, an Avaya Software-Only Product customer would have had to configure Sendmail to accept connections from other systems.

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

2. Avaya System Products with vulnerable sendmail configurations installed:

Product: Affected Version(s): Risk Level: Actions:
Avaya S87XX/S8500/S8300 CM 1.x Low Update to CM 2.x or later.

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 vendors guidance:

4. Software-Only Products:

Product: Affected Version(s): Risk Level: Actions:
CVLAN All Low See recommended actions below.
Avaya Integrated Management Suite(IMS) All Low See recommended actions below.

Recommended Actions:
Avaya recommends that customers follow recommended actions supplied by the Operating System vendor (e.g. RedHat Linux) or remove the affected packages.

5. 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.

6. 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 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, 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.

7. Revision History:

V 1.0 - August 15, 2006 - Initial Statement issued.
V 2.0 - September 1, 2006 - Included impact for Avaya S87XX/S8500/S8300 after further investigation.
V 3.0 - November 6, 2007 - Moved Avaya S87XX/S8500/S8300 from the Software-Only Products list into the System Products list. Removed IR from the Software-Only Products list.

Send information regarding any discovered security problems with Avaya products to either the contact noted in the product's documentation or [email protected].

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