Security Warning: Remote Exploitation - A New Linux/Unix Vulnerability May Allow a Hacker to Take Control

New GNU glibc Vulnerability was announced on 02/17/2016.

The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2015-7547, is similar to Heartbleed and Shellshock in terms of the scope of affected systems, but is not as serious, as it is significantly more difficult to exploit. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability relies on the potential victim communicating with a hostile/malicious DNS server or to be subject to a man-in-the-middle attack. Nevertheless, the vulnerability is considered to be critical by the industry since it can lead to remote exploitation of the client system.

Vulnerability explained:
The glibc DNS client side resolver is vulnerable to a stack-based buffer overflow when the getaddrinfo() library function is used. Software using this function may be exploited with attacker-controlled domain names, attacker-controlled DNS servers, or through a man-in-the-middle attack.

According to glibc developers, the vulnerable code was initially added in May 2008, as part of the development for glibc 2.9. All versions from 2.9 (originally released November 2008) to 2.22 appear to be affected.

Solution:
A patch for glibc is available. Affected users should apply the patch as soon as possible. The patch will also be included as part of the upcoming glibc 2.23 release.

If you feel that you need assistance from the Digital Edge Security team please contact Danielle Saladis at dsaladis@DIGITALEDGE.NET.

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