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[Devel] Skolelinux got some security problems...



(Follow-up to devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, to make sure our international
developers can follow the discussion.)

As you probably do not know, skolelinux got some security problems.
Most of these problems comes from the fact that for a few of the
packages we supply, the packages in woody wasnt' good enough.  For
these, we had to use newer versions, or recompile them to change
behavior.  After we did this, some security problem was found and
fixed in woody, while our packages still contain the security problem.

The security problem we are seeing, is that no one fixes security
problems for these packages in a timely fashion.  Fixing security
problem in this context is to keep track of security problems in the
packages, make patched packages available and make sure these fixed
packages are tested and placed into the official Skolelinux APT
source.

At the moment, I know about the following problems:

 - Remote root exploit in Webmin, bug #331 (fixed version announced
   2003-02-20 on webmin.org, while the bug was disocovered by me and
   reported to our bugzilla 2003-03-21).

 - Webmin uses well-known SSL certificate, making it trivial to sniff
   the root password, bug #332 (fixed version announced 2002-10-08.
   Not sure when I discovered it, but I reported it into our bugzilla
   2003-03-21).

 - Passwords are sent in clear text when users authenticate using
   LDAP, bug #213 (configuration problem because of missing crypto
   system i woody.  Reported to our bugzilla 2002-10-07.)

These are old problems, and none of them was discovered (or at least
reported into bugzilla) by the one responsible for the service in
Skolelinux.  I believe these problems indicate a structure problem
with the way Skolelinux is organized.

I've tried to keep the number of non-woody packages to a minimum,
because I anticipated these kind of problems.  At the moment, we use
the following non-woody upgraded source packages (from
<URL:http://developer.skolelinux.no/info/cdbygging/sl-packages.txt>):

Description of the extra packages from Skolelinux sources
---------------------------------------------------------

  base-config-skolelinux                pere           L
* cfengine-skolelinux                   pere           L
* ldap-skolelinux                       andread        L
  xdebconfigurator                      ?              L
  locale-config-skolelinux              ilmari         L
  task-skolelinux                       pere           L

    The skolelinux configuration packages.  These take care of the
    install configuration.

  user-sme                              ?              L

    Sami keyboard for XFree86 4.  Newer versions of XFree86 (>=4.2)
    will have the keyboard included.

* webmin-ldap-skolelinux                andread        L

    LDAP User administration module for Webmin.  This should be pushed
    into Debian, or included upstream into webmin.  A student group is
    working spring 2003 to compine webmin-ldap and webmin-useradm into
    one package, and pushing it upstream.

* webmin-cupsadmin-skolelinux           runesk         ?

    CUPS admin module to webmin.

  kwebmin                               mortehu        L

    Make webmin available in the KDE control panel.

Description of the local modifications
--------------------------------------

  apt                                   pere           F

     Patches to avoid request to insert CD if it already is inserted,
     make the "Insert CD" question easier to read, and support
     DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive. (Debian bug #154601, #154602,
     #177272)

  discover-data                         pere           F

     Patches to support kernel 2.4 and more HW.  (Debian bug #166093,
     #166676, #164276, #163429, #164288)

  kde-i18n                              gautehk        L/F

     Updated KDE 2.2 bokmål, nynorsk and northern sami translations.
     These are sent upstream to the KDE project, and not to Debian.

* ntp                                   pere       F

     Upgraded from 4.1.0-8 to 4.1.1b-3 to get support for using
     debconf answers to configure a local clock.  Patched to get it to
     work..  (Debian bug #147846 and #179521).

* openldap2                             runesk         F

     Upgraded from 2.0.23 to 2.0.27 to get TLS and SSL support.
     Local fixes for init.d script and konfiguration of this in
     /etc/default/slapd
    
Justification for upgraded packages (from Sid or Sarge)
-------------------------------------------------------

  base-config                           pere           D

     Upgraded from baseconfig 1.33.18 to 1.41 to add locale support
     and handle noninteractive install. (Debian bug #135565, #141057).
     Upgraded from 1.41 to 1.52 (with a patch to avoid depending on
     the Sid version of debconf) to get rid of the interaction from
     APT, and to get better support for translations.  Upgraded from
     1.52 to 1.58 to get rid of some duplicate code in
     base-config-skolelinux.  No local patch needed as newer debconf
     is available.

  cfengine                              tfheen         D

     I'm not sure why we upgraded. [pere 2003-01-19]

  debconf                               pere           D

     Upgraded from 1.0.32 to 1.2.34 to get support for UTF-8
     templates.  This is needed by base-config-skolelinux now that we
     make debs and udebs from the same package.

  discover                              tfheen         D

     Upgraded from version in Woody (1.1-6) to version in Sid
     (1.5-1.3) to get fixes for install problems when modules fail to
     load (Debian bug #153656).

  etherconf                             pere           D

     Upgraded from the version in Woody (1.10) to the version in
     Sid (1.14-0.1) to get support for setting the broadcast
     address, fixing Skolelinux bug #283. (Debian bug #153465)

  grub                                  pere           D

     Upgraded from the version in Woody (0.91-2) to the version in Sid
     (0.93+cvs20030217-1) to get fixes for several SCSI-related
     bugs. (Debian bug #110431, #155289, #158485)

  initrd-tools                          pere           D
* kernel-image-2.4.20-1-i386            pere           D
  modutils                              pere           D

     Upgrading the kernel from 2.4.19 (Woody) to 2.4.20 give us more
     HW support.  It requires newer initrd-tools and modutils.
     Upgraded to 2.4.20-1 to fix local exploit.

  hwdata                                ?              D

     Not sure why we upgraded from Woody (0.12-1) to a version fetched
     from Sid (0.44-1). [pere 2003-01-19]

  lvm-common                            pere           D
  lvm10                                 pere           D
  devfsd                                pere           D

     The packages fetched from Sid (lvm10 1.0.6-1, lvm-common 1.5.7,
     devfsd 1.3.25-12) solves problems with LVM on SCSI when kernel is
     compiled with devfs, but without /dev/ mounted as devfs.  These
     packages and installed devfs should fix the problem.

  manpages                              pere           D

    The manual pages in Woody (1.39-1.1) are old, so I decided to
    upgrade to the latest version fetched from Sid (1.48-2)

  noteedit                              pere           D

    This user application did not make it into Woody due to problems
    on ia64.  Fetched from Sid (1.16.1-1.1).

  wine                                  pere           D

    The version in Woody is old (0.0.20020411-1) and the version
    fetched from Sid (0.0.20021007-1) supports more Windows programs.

  libieee1284                           pere           D
* sane-backends                         pere           D
  sane-frontends                        pere           D
  xsane                                 pere           D

     The sane version in Woody (sane 1.0.7-2.1, xsane 0.84-2) is old,
     and the version fetched from Sid (sane 1.0.9-4, xsane 0.90-2)
     support more scanners.  libieee1284 is missing in Woody but is
     required by the new sane packages.  The xsane upgrade is just
     cosmetics.

* webmin                                ilmari         D
* webmin-apache                         ilmari         D
* webmin-bind                           ilmari         D
* webmin-core                           ilmari         D
* webmin-dhcpd                          ilmari         D
* webmin-exports                        ilmari         D
* webmin-grub                           ilmari         D
* webmin-inetd                          ilmari         D
* webmin-ltsp                           ilmari         D
* webmin-lvm                            ilmari         D
* webmin-quota                          ilmari         D
* webmin-raid                           ilmari         D
* webmin-samba                          ilmari         D
* webmin-software                       ilmari         D
* webmin-squid                          ilmari         D
* webmin-sshd                           ilmari         D
* webmin-status                         ilmari         D

     Upgraded to v1.000-1 to fix Skolelinux bug #110, #151 and #155.
     Upgraded to v1.070-1 to fix security problem, Skolelinux bug #331
     and #332.

  tetex-brev                            pere           D

    Norwegian letter style for LaTeX.  Missing in Woody.  Fetched from
    Sid (4.19-2).

  kmplot                                tfheen         D

    KDE mathematical function plotter.  It is missing in Woody, but is
    present in Sarge and Sid.  We fetched a copy from Sid (0.3-2).

  ng-utils                              pere       D

    Command line utilities for accessing netgroups through NSS.  We
    fetched a copy from Sid (0.4-1).

Description of the extra packages from external sources
-------------------------------------------------------

* ltsp-core-i386                        ragnar         X
  ltsp-doc                              ragnar         X
* ltsp-kernel-2.4.9-i386                ragnar         X
  ltsp-kernel-pxe-2.4.9-i386            runesk         X
  ltsp-local-apps-i386                  ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-core-i386                      ragnar         X
  ltsp-x-fonts-i386                     ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-3dlabs-3.3.6-i386      ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-8514-3.3.6-i386        ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-agx-3.3.6-i386         ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-fbdev-3.3.6-i386       ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-i128-3.3.6-i386        ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-mach32-3.3.6-i386      ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-mach64-3.3.6-i386      ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-mach8-3.3.6-i386       ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-mono-3.3.6-i386        ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-p9000-3.3.6-i386       ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-s3-3.3.6-i386          ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-s3v-3.3.6-i386         ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-svga-3.3.6-i386        ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-vga16-3.3.6-i386       ragnar         X
* ltsp-x-xserver-w32-3.3.6-i386         ragnar         X

    Linux Terminal Server Project packages from LTSP/Georg Baum.  This
    should be pushed into Debian.  There is already a Debian RFP
    submitted, <URL:http://bugs.debian.org/163000>.  License is GPL.

* j2re1.3                               skogmus        X

    Java Runtime Environment 1.3 from ?.  License is unknown.

* openoffice.org                        gautehk        X/D
  openoffice.org-debian-files           gautehk        X/D
  openoffice.org-spellcheck-nb          gautehk        X/D
  openoffice.org-spellcheck-nn          gautehk        X/D

    OpenOffice.org with extra translations, compiled for the
    Skolelinux project.  License is unknown/mixed.

* opera                                 pere           X

    Opera web browser from Opera Software.  Special version for
    Skolelinux with option to replace the advertisement image and URL.
    License is unknown.

  chkconfig                             pere           X

    Debian-port of RedHats tool to manage /etc/init.d/ and friends.
    License is GPL.  Not sure if it is needed. [pere 2003-02-28]

  hwinfo                                ?              X

    HW detection packages used by xdebconfiguratior.  License is
    unknown.

  klogic                                ?              X

    KDE program for building and simulating digital circuits.  There
    is already a Debian RFP submitted, <URL:http://bugs.debian.org/178907>.
    License is GPL.

I've marked the packages I believe can pose a security risk with '*'.
These are programs receiving data directly from the net (ie servers),
and programs that work on document formats that allow executable
content.

I'm not sure how we should handle this, but after a few months of
trying the current approach, where the one inserting the new package
into Skolelinux also is (or should be) responsible for keeping it
secure, I am convinced we need some change.  We need this fixed before
we upgrade any more packages from woody.  Any comments?