Critical Vulnerability Discovered In OpenBSD
For just the second time in a decade, a remotely exploitable security hole has been discovered in OpenBSD.
The vulnerability exists in the kernel of OpenBSD, a free, Unix-like operating system designed with an emphasis on security, and stems from how the OS handles IPv6 traffic, according to Ivan Arce, CTO at Core Security, the Boston-based penetration testing vendor that discovered the flaw.
OpenBSD versions 3.1, 3.6, 3.8, 3.9, 4.0, and 4.1 (released Feb. 26th, 2006) are vulnerable, and OpenBSD.org has released a patch for the vulnerability.
Hackers could exploit the flaw to trigger a buffer overflow in kernel memory, which would pave the way for remote code execution and allow for a complete compromise of the affected machine, Arce said.
But in order to exploit the flaw, an attacker would need to be on the same network as the target system, or be able to send fragmented IPv6 packets to the network, he added.