GLSA-200603-07 : flex: Potential insecure code generation

high Nessus Plugin ID 21045

Synopsis

The remote Gentoo host is missing one or more security-related patches.

Description

The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-200603-07 (flex: Potential insecure code generation)

Chris Moore discovered a buffer overflow in a special class of lexicographical scanners generated by flex. Only scanners generated by grammars which use either REJECT, or rules with a 'variable trailing context' might be at risk.
Impact :

An attacker could feed malicious input to an application making use of an affected scanner and trigger the buffer overflow, potentially resulting in the execution of arbitrary code.
Workaround :

Avoid using vulnerable grammar in your flex scanners.

Solution

All flex users should upgrade to the latest version:
# emerge --sync # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose '>=sys-devel/flex-2.5.33-r1'

See Also

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/200603-07

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 21045

File Name: gentoo_GLSA-200603-07.nasl

Version: 1.16

Type: local

Published: 3/13/2006

Updated: 1/6/2021

Supported Sensors: Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.5

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 5.5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:gentoo:linux:flex, cpe:/o:gentoo:linux

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/Gentoo/release, Host/Gentoo/qpkg-list

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 3/10/2006

Vulnerability Publication Date: 2/22/2006

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2006-0459

CWE: 119

GLSA: 200603-07