local users could read mailman's mail archive

It was found that mailman did not sanitize the list name before passing it to certain MTAs. A local attacker could use this flaw to execute arbitrary code as the user running mailman. (CVE-2015-2775)

It was found that mailman stored private email messages in a world-readable directory. A local user could use this flaw to read private mailing list archives. (CVE-2002-0389)

Updated mailman packages that fix two security issues and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having Moderate security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores, which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability from the CVE links in the References section.

Mailman is a program used to help manage e-mail discussion lists.

It was found that mailman did not sanitize the list name before passing it to certain MTAs. A local attacker could use this flaw to execute arbitrary code as the user running mailman. (CVE-2015-2775)

It was found that mailman stored private email messages in a world-readable directory. A local user could use this flaw to read private mailing list archives. (CVE-2002-0389)

This update also fixes the following bugs :

* Previously, it was impossible to configure Mailman in a way that Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) would recognize Sender alignment for Domain Key Identified Mail (DKIM) signatures. Consequently, Mailman list subscribers that belonged to a mail server with a 'reject' policy for DMARC, such as yahoo.com or AOL.com, were unable to receive Mailman forwarded messages from senders residing in any domain that provided DKIM signatures. With this update, domains with a 'reject' DMARC policy are recognized correctly, and Mailman list administrators are able to configure the way these messages are handled. As a result, after a proper configuration, subscribers now correctly receive Mailman forwarded messages in this scenario. (BZ#1095359)

* Mailman used a console encoding when generating a subject for a 'welcome email' when new mailing lists were created by the 'newlist' command. Consequently, when the console encoding did not match the encoding used by Mailman for that particular language, characters in the 'welcome email' could be displayed incorrectly. Mailman has been fixed to use the correct encoding, and characters in the 'welcome email' are now displayed properly. (BZ#1056366)

* The 'rmlist' command used a hard-coded path to list data based on the VAR_PREFIX configuration variable. As a consequence, when the list was created outside of VAR_PREFIX, it was impossible to remove it using the 'rmlist' command. With this update, the 'rmlist' command uses the correct LIST_DATA_DIR value instead of VAR_PREFIX, and it is now possible to remove the list in described situation. (BZ#1008139)

* Due to an incompatibility between Python and Mailman in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, when moderators were approving a moderated message to a mailing list and checked the 'Preserve messages for the site administrator' checkbox, Mailman failed to approve the message and returned an error. This incompatibility has been fixed, and Mailman now approves messages as expected in this scenario. (BZ#765807)

* When Mailman was set to not archive a list but the archive was not set to private, attachments sent to that list were placed in a public archive. Consequently, users of Mailman web interface could list private attachments because httpd configuration of public archive directory allows listing all files in the archive directory. The httpd configuration of Mailman has been fixed to not allow listing of private archive directory, and users of Mailman web interface are no longer able to list private attachments. (BZ#745409)

Users of mailman are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues.

It was found that mailman did not sanitize the list name before passing it to certain MTAs. A local attacker could use this flaw to execute arbitrary code as the user running mailman. (CVE-2015-2775)

It was found that mailman stored private email messages in a world- readable directory. A local user could use this flaw to read private mailing list archives. (CVE-2002-0389)

This update also fixes the following bugs :

  - Previously, it was impossible to configure Mailman in a     way that Domain- based Message Authentication, Reporting     &amp; Conformance (DMARC) would recognize Sender     alignment for Domain Key Identified Mail (DKIM)     signatures. Consequently, Mailman list subscribers that     belonged to a mail server with a 'reject' policy for     DMARC, such as yahoo.com or AOL.com, were unable to     receive Mailman forwarded messages from senders residing     in any domain that provided DKIM signatures. With this     update, domains with a 'reject' DMARC policy are     recognized correctly, and Mailman list administrators     are able to configure the way these messages are     handled. As a result, after a proper configuration,     subscribers now correctly receive Mailman forwarded     messages in this scenario.

  - Mailman used a console encoding when generating a     subject for a 'welcome email' when new mailing lists     were created by the 'newlist' command. Consequently,     when the console encoding did not match the encoding     used by Mailman for that particular language, characters     in the 'welcome email' could be displayed incorrectly.
    Mailman has been fixed to use the correct encoding, and     characters in the 'welcome email' are now displayed     properly.

  - The 'rmlist' command used a hard-coded path to list data     based on the VAR_PREFIX configuration variable. As a     consequence, when the list was created outside of     VAR_PREFIX, it was impossible to remove it using the     'rmlist' command. With this update, the 'rmlist' command     uses the correct LIST_DATA_DIR value instead of     VAR_PREFIX, and it is now possible to remove the list in     described situation.

  - Due to an incompatibility between Python and Mailman in     Scientific Linux 6, when moderators were approving a     moderated message to a mailing list and checked the     'Preserve messages for the site administrator' checkbox,     Mailman failed to approve the message and returned an     error. This incompatibility has been fixed, and Mailman     now approves messages as expected in this scenario.

  - When Mailman was set to not archive a list but the     archive was not set to private, attachments sent to that     list were placed in a public archive. Consequently,     users of Mailman web interface could list private     attachments because httpd configuration of public     archive directory allows listing all files in the     archive directory. The httpd configuration of Mailman     has been fixed to not allow listing of private archive     directory, and users of Mailman web interface are no     longer able to list private attachments.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - Pipermail in Mailman stores private mail messages with predictable filenames in a world-executable     directory, which allows local users to read private mailing list archives. (CVE-2002-0389)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

The remote Oracle Linux 6 host has a package installed that is affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the ELSA-2015-1417 advisory.

    - fix CVE-2002-0389 - local users able to read private mailing list archives
    - fix CVE-2015-2775 - directory traversal in MTA transports

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Oracle Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Published	Updated	Severity
74637	openSUSE Security Update : mailman (openSUSE-SU-2012:0660-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	6/13/2014	1/19/2021	low
85455	Amazon Linux AMI : mailman (ALAS-2015-582)	Nessus	Amazon Linux Local Security Checks	8/18/2015	4/18/2018	high
84944	RHEL 6 : mailman (RHSA-2015:1417)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	7/23/2015	2/5/2021	high
85201	Scientific Linux Security Update : mailman on SL6.x i386/x86_64 (20150722)	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	8/4/2015	1/14/2021	high
217018	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2002-0389	Nessus	Misc.	3/3/2025	3/3/2025	medium
85018	CentOS 6 : mailman (CESA-2015:1417)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	7/28/2015	1/4/2021	high
85105	Oracle Linux 6 : mailman (ELSA-2015-1417)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	7/30/2015	4/29/2025	medium

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