LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Nick Morrison <nickm@bhwb.nsw.gov.au>
  To  : LinuxSA <linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au>
  Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 11:25:42 +1030

Re: apparent vulnerability of [Redhat] linux 6.2

It was Tue, Jan 30, 2001 at 11:03:06AM +1030.  Alan Kennington spake:
> As some of you may know, I report scan probes from time to time.
> Here's an interesting response from Rutgers.
> 
> I gather that they mean RedHat linux 6.2 when they say linux 6.2.
> 
> It seems to me that there have been a lot of reports of
> the vulnerability of Redhat 6.2 in the last few months.
> Is that so? Is it particularly weak?
> 
> I know that my own old 5.2 machines were particularly weak on
> security. I wonder if the *.2 versions are just somehow
> inherently weak. Maybe not....
> 
> Since I haven't had permission to publish the quoted e-mail,
> I'll anonymise it a little.
> 
> I think this experience just reinforces that RedHat (and probably other
> distributions too) should never be put on the net without
> a lot of serious configuration and patching.
> Yes I know that this is obvious to very many people.
> But not everyone was born with a keyboard in their hand.
> Some people still think that you can just install linux and
> start work without a good computer security grounding!


When you install RH 6.2, or, for that matter, any version of any operating
system, you MUST check the vendor's site for the latest updates and
patches.

RH 6.2 - the default install, on an original RH 6.2 CD - has an
easy-to-exploit security hole in the wu-ftpd daemon.  The patches have been
on the RH site since a day after the hole was discovered.  They're easy to
download and apply.

If you're responsible for installing a server which needs to be secure on a
network, you should have the competance to check for OS patches...  the
same goes for any operating system - if you install a default Windows NT
Server 4.0 with IIS version whatever, there are security holes there too.

http://www.redhat.com/apps/support/updates.html is a good place to start
for Redhat Linux!

Cheers,

Nick

--
Nick Morrison
nickm@bhwb.nsw.gov.au

Information Technology Officer
Phone:  +61 8 8080 2409
Mobile: +61 4 0780 2409
Fax:    +61 8 8080 2430

Australian Inland Energy and Water
PO Box 442
Broken Hill, NSW 2880


"If infinite rednecks fired infinite shotguns at an infinite number of road
signs, they'd eventually create all the great literary works of the world
in braille."
                            -- Discordian Quote File

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