CESA-2002:301: postgresql security update

Description

Updated PostgreSQL packages are available which correct several minor security vulnerabilities. [Updated 06 Feb 2003] Added fixed packages for Advanced Workstation 2.1

PostgreSQL is an advanced Object-Relational database management system (DBMS). CentOS Linux Advanced Server 2.1 shipped with PostgreSQL version 7.1.3 which has several security vulnerabilities. Buffer overflows in PostgreSQL 7.2 allow attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via long arguments to the lpad or rpad functions. CAN-2002-0972 Buffer overflow in the cash_words() function for PostgreSQL 7.2 and earlier allows local users to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via a malformed argument. CAN-2002-1397 Buffer overflow in the date parser for PostgreSQL before 7.2.2 allows attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via a long date string, referred to as a vulnerability "in handling long datetime input." CAN-2002-1398 Heap-based buffer overflow in the repeat() function for PostgreSQL before 7.2.2 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code by causing repeat() to generate a large string. CAN-2002-1400 Buffer overflows in circle_poly, path_encode, and path_add allow attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code. Note that these issues have been fixed in our packages and in PostgreSQL CVS, but are not included in PostgreSQL version 7.2.2 or 7.2.3. CAN-2002-1401 Buffer overflows in the TZ and SET TIME ZONE enivronment variables for PostgreSQL 7.2.1 and earlier allow local users to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code. CAN-2002-1402 Note that these vulnerabilities are only critical on open or shared systems because connecting to the database is required before the vulnerabilities can be exploited. The PostgreSQL Global Development Team has released versions of PostgreSQL that fix these vulnerabilities, and these fixes have been isolated and backported into the updated 7.1.3 packages provided with this errata. All users of CentOS Linux Advanced Server 2.1 who use PostgreSQL are advised to install these updated packages.