wireshark security update (RHSA-2007-0066)

Original Release Date: April 24, 2007
Last Revised: June 2, 2009
Number: ASA-2007-166
Risk Level: Low
Advisory Version: 2.0
Advisory Status: Final

1. Overview:

Wireshark is a network packet sniffing and packet analyzing utility.

The Ethereal project recently was renamed to Wireshark. Red Hat updated their packages to use Wireshark going forward on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, 3 and 4 and deprecated the Ethereal packages.

Wireshark was found to contain numerous Denial of Service (DoS) issues in the protocol dissectors for the LLT, IEEE 802.11, HTTP and TCP protocols when reading packets live from the network. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CVE-2007-0456, CVE-2007-0457, CVE-2007-0458 and CVE-2007-0459 to these issues.

In order for these vulnerabilities to be taken advantage of, an authenticated user on the local system would have to start Wireshark (tshark). For Avaya system products, only Avaya Service technicians have permissions to run Wireshark (tshark).

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

2. Avaya System Products with wireshark installed:

Product: Affected Version(s): Risk Level: Actions:
Avaya Communication Manager CM 4.0.1 and earlier Low Upgrade to CM 5.0 or later.
Avaya EMMC All Low This will not be addressed as no further releases are planned.
Avaya CCS/SES SES 4.0 and earlier Low Upgrade to SES 5.0 or later.

Recommended Actions:
For all system products which use vulnerable versions of wireshark, Avaya recommends that customers restrict local and network access to the server. This restriction should be enforced through the use of physical security, firewalls, ACLs, VPNs, and other generally-accepted networking practices until such time as the upgrade can be installed.

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.

4. Software-Only Products:

Product: Affected Version(s): Risk Level: Actions:
CVLAN All None Depending on the Operating System provided by customers, the affected package may be installed on the underlying Operating System supporting the CVLAN application. The CVLAN application does not require the software described in this advisory.
Avaya Integrated Management Suite(IMS) All None Depending on the Operating System provided by customers, the affected package may be installed on the underlying Operating System supporting the IMS application. The IMS application does not require the software described in this advisory.

Recommended Actions:
Avaya recommends that customers follow recommended actions supplied by RedHat Linux or remove the affected package.

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 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.

7. Revision History:

V 1.0 - April 24, 2007 - Initial Statement issued.
V 2.0 - November 21, 2008 - Changed recommended actions for CM and SES.
V 3.0 - June 2, 2009 - Changed EMMC recommended actions and ASA status to final.

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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