freebsd-update and portsnap users still at risk of compromise

[Julian Elischer]

On 11/08/2016 1:11 AM, Mail Lists via freebsd-security wrote:
>
>
> sorry but this is blabla and does not come even near to answering the real problem:
>
> It appears that freebsd and the US-government is more connected that some of us might like:
>
> Not publishing security issues concerning update mechanisms - we all can think WHY freebsd is not eager on this one.
>
> Just my thoughts...

this has been in discussion a lot in private circles within FreeBSD.
It's not being ignored and a "correct" patch is being developed.

from one email I will quote just a small part..
=======

As of yet, [the] patches for the libarchive vulnerabilities have not been released
upstream to be pulled into FreeBSD. In the meantime, HardenedBSD has created
patches for some of the libarchive vulnerabilities, the first[3] is being
considered for inclusion in FreeBSD, at least until a complete fix is
committed upstream, however the second[4] is considered too brute-force and
will not be committed as-is. Once the patches are in FreeBSD and updated
binaries are available, a Security Advisory will be issued.

=======
so expect something soon.
I will go on to say that the threat does need to come from an advanced 
MITM actor,
though that does not make it a non threat..

>
>
>> Tuesday, August  9, 2016 8:21 PM UTC from Matthew Donovan <kitche at kitchetech.com>:
>>
>> You mean operating system as distribution is a Linux term. There's not much
>> different between HARDENEDBSD and FreeBSD besides that HardenedBSD fixes
>> vulnerabilities and has a an excellent ASLR system compared to the proposed
>> one for FreeBSD.
>>
>> On Aug 9, 2016 3:10 PM, "Roger Marquis" < marquis at roble.com > wrote:
>>
>>> Timely update via Hackernews:
>>>
>>>   <hardenedbsd.org/article/shawn-webb/2016-08-07/vulnerabilit
>>> y-update-libarchive>
>>>
>>> Note in particular:
>>>
>>>   "FreeBSD is still vulnerable to the portsnap, freebsd-update, bspatch,
>>>   and libarchive vulnerabilities."
>>>
>>> Not sure why the portsec team has not commented or published an advisory
>>> (possibly because the freebsd list spam filters are so bad that
>>> subscriptions are being blocked) but from where I sit it seems that
>>> those exposed should consider:
>>>
>>>   cd /usr/ports
>>>   svn{lite} co  https://svn.FreeBSD.org/ports/head /usr/ports
>>>   make index
>>>   rm -rf /usr/sbin/portsnap /var/db/portsnap/*
>>>
>>> I'd also be interested in hearing from hardenedbsd users regarding the
>>> pros and cons of cutting over to that distribution.
>>>
>>> Roger
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2016-07-29 09:00, Julian Elischer wrote:
>>>>> not sure if you've been contacted privately, but  I believe the answer is
>>>>> "we're working on it"
>>>>>
>>>> My concerns are as follows:
>>>>
>>>> 1. This is already out there, and FreeBSD users haven't been alerted that
>>>> they should avoid running freebsd-update/portsnap until the problems are
>>>> fixed.
>>>>
>>>> 2. There was no mention in the bspatch advisory that running
>>>> freebsd-update to "fix" bspatch would expose systems to MITM attackers who
>>>> are apparently already in operation.
>>>>
>>>> 3. Strangely, the "fix" in the advisory is incomplete and still permits
>>>> heap corruption, even though a more complete fix is available. That's
>>>> what prompted my post. If FreeBSD learned of the problem from the same
>>>> source document we all did, which seems likely given the coincidental
>>>> timing of an advisory for a little-known utility a week or two after that
>>>> source document appeared, then surely FreeBSD had the complete fix
>>>> available.
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
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>
> Best regards,
> Mail Lists
> mlists at mail.ru
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