iDefense Security Advisory 09.26.11: Novell GroupWise iCal Date Invalid Array Indexing Vulnerability

[labs-no-reply <labs-no-reply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

iDefense Security Advisory 09.26.11
http://labs.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/
Sep 26, 2011

I. BACKGROUND

GroupWise is Novell's messaging platform, and includes support for
email, calendaring, and instant messaging. More information is available
at the following website:

http://www.novell.com/products/groupwise/

II. DESCRIPTION

Remote exploitation of a memory corruption vulnerability in Novell
Inc.'s GroupWise could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with
the privileges of the affected service.

This vulnerability is present in the calendar processing code, which
resides within the GroupWise Internet Agent (GWIA) process. The
vulnerability occurs when parsing a malformed calendar recurrence
(RRULE) that recurs yearly. When adding a sequence of dates, it is
possible to trigger an invalid array indexing vulnerability, and write
beyond the bounds of a heap buffer. This can lead to the execution of
arbitrary code.

III. ANALYSIS

Exploitation of this vulnerability results in the execution of arbitrary
code with the privileges of the affected service. On Windows, the GWIA
process runs with SYSTEM privileges. In order to exploit this
vulnerability, an attacker simply needs to send an email to a valid
user, and attach the malicious calendar file to the email. The targeted
user does not need to download or view the email; processing of the iCal
file occurs automatically on the server as soon as the email is received
by the server.

IV. DETECTION

Novell GroupWise 8.0x up to (and including) 8.02HP2 are vulnerable.

V. WORKAROUND

iDefense is currently unaware of any workaround for this issue.

VI. VENDOR RESPONSE

Novell has released fixes which addresses this issue. Information about
downloadable vendor updates can be found by clicking on the URLs shown.

http://www.novell.com/support/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=7009216&sliceId=1&docTypeID=DT_TID_1_1&dialogID=269227180&stateId=0%200%20269229135

VII. CVE INFORMATION

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned the
name CVE-2011-2663 to this issue. This is a candidate for inclusion in
the CVE list (http://cve.mitre.org/), which standardizes names for
security problems.

VIII. DISCLOSURE TIMELINE

07/20/2011  Initial Vendor Notification
07/21/2011  Vendor Reply
09/26/2011  Coordinated Public Disclosure

IX. CREDIT

The discoverer of this vulnerability wishes to remain anonymous.

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X. LEGAL NOTICES

Copyright © 2011 Verisign

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Disclaimer: The information in the advisory is believed to be accurate
at the time of publishing based on currently available information. Use
of the information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition.
 There are no warranties with regard to this information. Neither the
author nor the publisher accepts any liability for any direct, indirect,
or consequential loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on,
this information.