VMSA-2009-0001.1
ESX patches address an issue loading corrupt virtual disks and update Service Console packages
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VMware Security Advisory
Advisory ID: VMSA-2009-0001.1
Synopsis: ESX patches address an issue loading corrupt virtual
disks and update Service Console packages
Issue date: 2009-01-30
Updated on: 2009-02-26
CVE numbers: CVE-2008-4914 CVE-2008-4309 CVE-2008-4226
CVE-2008-4225
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1. Summary
Updated ESX patches address an issue loading corrupt
virtual disks and update Service Console packages
for net-snmp and libxml2.
2. Relevant releases
VMware ESXi 3.5 without patch ESXe350-200901401-I-SG
VMware ESX 3.5 without patches ESX350-200901401-SG,
ESX350-200901409-SG,
ESX350-200901410-SG
VMware ESX 3.0.3 without patches ESX303-200901405-SG,
ESX303-200901406-SG
VMware ESX 3.0.2 without patches ESX-1007673, ESX-1007674
VMware ESX 2.5.5 before patch 12
NOTE: Extended support for ESX 3.5 Update 1 ends on 7/25/2009, users
should plan to upgrade to at least ESX 3.5 Update 2 by that
time.
Extended support for ESX 3.0.2 Update 1 ends on 2009-08-08.
Users should plan to upgrade to ESX 3.0.3 and preferably to
the newest release available.
Extended support for ESX 2.5.5 ends on 2010-06-15. Users
should plan to upgrade to ESX 3.0.3 and preferably to the
newest release available.
3. Problem Description
a. Loading a corrupt delta disk may cause ESX to crash
If the VMDK delta disk of a snapshot is corrupt, an ESX host might
crash when the corrupted disk is loaded. VMDK delta files exist
for virtual machines with one or more snapshots. This change ensures
that a corrupt VMDK delta file cannot be used to crash ESX hosts.
A corrupt VMDK delta disk, or virtual machine would have to be loaded
by an administrator.
VMware would like to thank Craig Marshall for reporting this issue.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)
has assigned the name CVE-2008-4914 to this issue.
The following table lists what action remediates the vulnerability
(column 4) if a solution is available.
VMware Product Running Replace with/
Product Version on Apply Patch
============= ======== ======= =================
VirtualCenter any Windows not affected
hosted * any any not affected
ESXi 3.5 ESXi ESXe350-200901401-I-SG
ESX 3.5 ESX ESX350-200901401-SG
ESX 3.0.3 ESX not affected
ESX 3.0.2 ESX not affected
ESX 2.5.5 ESX not affected
* hosted products are VMware Workstation, Player, ACE, Server, Fusion.
b. Updated Service Console package net-snmp
Net-SNMP is an implementation of the Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP). SNMP is used by network management systems to
monitor hosts.
A denial-of-service flaw was found in the way Net-SNMP processes
SNMP GETBULK requests. A remote attacker who issued a specially-
crafted request could cause the snmpd server to crash.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)
has assigned the name CVE-2008-4309 to this issue.
The following table lists what action remediates the vulnerability
(column 4) if a solution is available.
VMware Product Running Replace with/
Product Version on Apply Patch
============= ======== ======= =================
VirtualCenter any Windows not affected
hosted * any any not affected
ESXi 3.5 ESXi not affected
ESX 3.5 ESX ESX350-200901409-SG
ESX 3.0.3 ESX ESX303-200901405-SG
ESX 3.0.2 ESX ESX-1007673
ESX 2.5.5 ESX not affected
* hosted products are VMware Workstation, Player, ACE, Server, Fusion.
c. Updated Service Console package libxml2
An integer overflow flaw causing a heap-based buffer overflow was
found in the libxml2 XML parser. If an application linked against
libxml2 processed untrusted, malformed XML content, it could cause
the application to crash or, possibly, execute arbitrary code.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org) has
assigned the name CVE-2008-4226 to this issue.
A denial of service flaw was discovered in the libxml2 XML parser.
If an application linked against libxml2 processed untrusted,
malformed XML content, it could cause the application to enter
an infinite loop.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)
has assigned the name CVE-2008-4225 to this issue.
The following table lists what action remediates the vulnerability
(column 4) if a solution is available.
VMware Product Running Replace with/
Product Version on Apply Patch
============= ======== ======= =================
VirtualCenter any Windows not affected
hosted * any any not affected
ESXi 3.5 ESXi not affected
ESX 3.5 ESX ESX350-200901410-SG
ESX 3.0.3 ESX ESX303-200901406-SG
ESX 3.0.2 ESX ESX-1007674
ESX 2.5.5 ESX Upgrade Patch 12
* hosted products are VMware Workstation, Player, ACE, Server, Fusion.
4. Solution
Please review the patch/release notes for your product and version
and verify the md5sum of your downloaded file.
ESXi
----
ESXi 3.5 patch ESXe350-200901401-I-SG
download3.vmware.com/software/vi/ESXe350-200901401-O-SG.zip
md5sum: 588dc7bfdee4e4c5ac626906c37fc784
kb.vmware.com/kb/1006661
NOTE: The three ESXi patches for Firmware "I", VMware Tools "T," and
the VI Client "C" are contained in a single offline "O"
download file.
ESX
---
ESX 3.5 patch ESX350-200901401-SG (VMDK)
download3.vmware.com/software/vi/ESX350-200901401-SG.zip
md5sum: 2769ac30078656b01ca1e2fdfa3230e9
kb.vmware.com/kb/1006651
ESX 3.5 patch ESX350-200901409-SG (net-snmp)
download3.vmware.com/software/vi/ESX350-200901409-SG.zip
md5sum: 2c75cd848d9f3c51619b9a7bd60d20a3
kb.vmware.com/kb/1006659
ESX 3.5 patch ESX350-200901410-SG (libxml2)
download3.vmware.com/software/vi/ESX350-200901410-SG.zip
md5sum: 061f96373244e7eab3f0d5fe2415ce91
kb.vmware.com/kb/1006660
ESX 3.0.3 patch ESX303-200901405-SG (net-snmp)
download3.vmware.com/software/vi/ESX303-200901405-SG.zip
md5sum: 9983b63a1e2dc7fb3d80f0021c1c347c
kb.vmware.com/kb/1007681
ESX 3.0.3 patch ESX303-200901406-SG (libxml2)
download3.vmware.com/software/vi/ESX303-200901406-SG.zip
md5sum: 2d5a827ccaf406a54dd3a5affee39db0
kb.vmware.com/kb/1007682
ESX 3.0.2 patch ESX-1007673 (net-snmp)
download3.vmware.com/software/vi/ESX-1007673.tgz
md5sum: af4a36d2b4d731177210c789df844974
kb.vmware.com/kb/1007673
ESX 3.0.2 patch ESX-1007674 (libxml2)
download3.vmware.com/software/vi/ESX-1007674.tgz
md5sum: fb4b5e9a03dea5b9e24cc0766ddd2581
kb.vmware.com/kb/1007674
ESX 2.5.5 Upgrade Patch 12 Build 142709
www.vmware.com/support/esx25/doc/esx-255-142709-patch.html
download3.vmware.com/software/esx/esx-2.5.5-142709-upgrade.tar.gz
md5sum: 2a0bd5cc3591b1f6b04616fa2c97f78c
5. References
CVE numbers
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-4914
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-4309
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-4226
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-4225
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6. Change log
2009-01-30 VMSA-2009-0001
Initial security advisory after release of patches for ESXi, ESX 3.5,
ESX 3.0.3, ESX 3.0.2.
2009-02-26 VMSA-2009-0001.1
Updated ESX 2.5.5 libxml2 information after release of update patch
12 on 2009-02-26
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