The alert-mailing implementation in HP Linux Imaging and Printing (HPLIP) 1.6.7 allows local users to gain privileges and send e-mail messages from the root account via vectors related to the setalerts message, and lack of validation of the device URI associated with an event message.

From Red Hat Security Advisory 2008:0818 :

Updated hplip packages that fix various security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

The hplip (Hewlett-Packard Linux Imaging and Printing) packages provide drivers for Hewlett-Packard printers and multifunction peripherals.

A flaw was discovered in the hplip alert-mailing functionality. A local attacker could elevate their privileges by using specially crafted packets to trigger alert mails, which are sent by the root account. (CVE-2008-2940)

A flaw was discovered in the hpssd message parser. By sending specially crafted packets, a local attacker could cause a denial of service, stopping the hpssd process. (CVE-2008-2941)

Users of hplip should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues.

A flaw was discovered in the hplip alert-mailing functionality. A local attacker could elevate their privileges by using specially crafted packets to trigger alert mails, which are sent by the root account. (CVE-2008-2940)

A flaw was discovered in the hpssd message parser. By sending specially crafted packets, a local attacker could cause a denial of service, stopping the hpssd process. (CVE-2008-2941)

The remote CentOS system is missing a security update which has been documented in Red Hat advisory RHSA-2008-0818.

It was discovered that the hpssd tool of hplip did not validate privileges in the alert-mailing function. A local attacker could exploit this to gain privileges and send e-mail messages from the account of the hplip user. This update alters hplip behaviour by preventing users from setting alerts and by moving alert configuration to a root-controlled /etc/hp/alerts.conf file. (CVE-2008-2940)

It was discovered that the hpssd tool of hplip did not correctly handle certain commands. A local attacker could use a specially crafted packet to crash hpssd, leading to a denial of service.
(CVE-2008-2941).

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

USN-674-1 provided packages to fix vulnerabilities in HPLIP. Due to an internal archive problem, the updates for Ubuntu 7.10 would not install properly. This update provides fixed packages for Ubuntu 7.10.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

It was discovered that the hpssd tool of hplip did not validate privileges in the alert-mailing function. A local attacker could exploit this to gain privileges and send e-mail messages from the account of the hplip user. This update alters hplip behaviour by preventing users from setting alerts and by moving alert configuration to a root-controlled /etc/hp/alerts.conf file. (CVE-2008-2940)

It was discovered that the hpssd tool of hplip did not correctly handle certain commands. A local attacker could use a specially crafted packet to crash hpssd, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-2941).

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

Marc Schoenefeld of the Red Hat Security Response Team discovered a vulnerability in the hplip alert-mailing functionality that could allow a local attacker to elevate their privileges by using specially crafted packets to trigger alert mails that are sent by the root account (CVE-2008-2940).

Another vulnerability was discovered by Marc Schoenefeld in the hpssd message parser that could allow a local attacker to stop the hpssd process by sending specially-craftd packets, causing a denial of service (CVE-2008-2941).

The updated packages have been patched to correct these issues.

Secunia reports :

A security issue has been reported in hplip, which can be exploited by malicious, local users to cause a DoS.

The security issue is caused due to an error within hpssd.py when parsing certain requests. This can be exploited to crash the service by sending specially crafted requests to the default port 2207/TCP.

This update of hplip does not allow to send alert mails as user anymore (CVE-2008-2940) and fixes a denial-of-service defect.
(CVE-2008-2941)

This update of hplip does not allow to send alert mails as user anymore (CVE-2008-2940) and fixes a denial-of-service defect (CVE-2008-2941).

Updated hplip packages that fix various security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

The hplip (Hewlett-Packard Linux Imaging and Printing) packages provide drivers for Hewlett-Packard printers and multifunction peripherals.

A flaw was discovered in the hplip alert-mailing functionality. A local attacker could elevate their privileges by using specially crafted packets to trigger alert mails, which are sent by the root account. (CVE-2008-2940)

A flaw was discovered in the hpssd message parser. By sending specially crafted packets, a local attacker could cause a denial of service, stopping the hpssd process. (CVE-2008-2941)

Users of hplip should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
67736	Oracle Linux 5 : hplip (ELSA-2008-0818)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	high
60463	Scientific Linux Security Update : hplip on SL5.x i386/x86_64	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	high
43705	CentOS 5 : hplip (CESA-2008-0818)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	high
37887	Ubuntu 6.06 LTS / 7.10 / 8.04 LTS : hplip vulnerabilities (USN-674-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	high
37203	Ubuntu 7.10 : hplip vulnerabilities (USN-674-2)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	high
36743	Mandriva Linux Security Advisory : hplip (MDVSA-2008:169)	Nessus	Mandriva Local Security Checks	high
34977	FreeBSD : hplip -- hpssd Denial of Service (37940643-be1b-11dd-a578-0030843d3802)	Nessus	FreeBSD Local Security Checks	high
34431	SuSE 10 Security Update : hplip (ZYPP Patch Number 5556)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high
34430	openSUSE 10 Security Update : hplip (hplip-5552)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	high
33884	RHEL 5 : hplip (RHSA-2008:0818)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	high

Detections

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CVE-2008-2940

high

Tenable Plugins

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