Issued:
2010-03-25
Updated:
2010-03-25

RHSA-2010:0166 - Moderate: gnutls security update

Synopsis

Moderate: gnutls security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Moderate

Topic

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

The Red Hat Security Response Team 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.

Description

The GnuTLS library provides support for cryptographic algorithms and for protocols such as Transport Layer Security (TLS).

A flaw was found in the way the TLS/SSL (Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer) protocols handled session renegotiation. A man-in-the-middle attacker could use this flaw to prefix arbitrary plain text to a client's session (for example, an HTTPS connection to a website). This could force the server to process an attacker's request as if authenticated using the victim's credentials. This update addresses this flaw by implementing the TLS Renegotiation Indication Extension, as defined in RFC 5746. (CVE-2009-3555)

Refer to the following Knowledgebase article for additional details about the CVE-2009-3555 flaw: http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-20491

Dan Kaminsky found that browsers could accept certificates with MD2 hash signatures, even though MD2 is no longer considered a cryptographically strong algorithm. This could make it easier for an attacker to create a malicious certificate that would be treated as trusted by a browser. GnuTLS now disables the use of the MD2 algorithm inside signatures by default. (CVE-2009-2409)

Users of GnuTLS are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues. For the update to take effect, all applications linked to the GnuTLS library must be restarted, or the system rebooted.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support5.4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support5.4ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support5.4i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian5ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support5.4ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems5s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support5.4s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5i386

Updated Packages

  • gnutls-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.ppc64.rpm
  • gnutls-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.s390.rpm
  • gnutls-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.ppc.rpm
  • gnutls-utils-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.s390x.rpm
  • gnutls-devel-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.ia64.rpm
  • gnutls-utils-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.i386.rpm
  • gnutls-devel-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.i386.rpm
  • gnutls-utils-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.ppc.rpm
  • gnutls-utils-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.ia64.rpm
  • gnutls-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.src.rpm
  • gnutls-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.s390x.rpm
  • gnutls-devel-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.x86_64.rpm
  • gnutls-devel-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.ppc.rpm
  • gnutls-devel-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.ppc64.rpm
  • gnutls-utils-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.x86_64.rpm
  • gnutls-devel-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.s390x.rpm
  • gnutls-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.i386.rpm
  • gnutls-devel-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.s390.rpm
  • gnutls-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.x86_64.rpm
  • gnutls-1.4.1-3.el5_4.8.ia64.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information