VMSA-2016-0002.1

VMware product updates address a critical glibc security vulnerability.

1. Summary

VMware product updates address a critical glibc security vulnerability

2. Relevant Releases

ESXi 6.0 without patch ESXi600-201602401-SG
ESXi 5.5 without patch ESXi550-201602401-SG

VMware virtual appliances

3. Problem Description

a. glibc update for multiple products.

The glibc library has been updated in multiple products to resolve a stack buffer overflow present in the glibc getaddrinfo function.
 
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2015-7547.

VMware products have been grouped into the following four categories:
     
I) ESXi and ESX Hypervisor

Versions of ESXi and ESX prior to 5.5 are not affected because they do not ship with a vulnerable version of glibc. ESXi 5.5 and ESXi 6.0 ship with a vulnerable version of glibc and are affected.
See table 1 for remediation for ESXi 5.5 and ESXi 6.0.

II) Windows-based products

Windows-based products, including all versions of vCenter Server running on Windows, are not affected.

III) VMware virtual appliances

VMware virtual appliances ship with a vulnerable version of glibc and are affected.
See table 2 for remediation for appliances.
     
IV) Products that run on Linux

VMware products that run on Linux (excluding virtual appliances) might use a vulnerable version of glibc as part of the base operating system. If the operating system has a vulnerable version of glibc, VMware recommends that customers contact their operating system vendor for resolution.
  
WORKAROUND

Workarounds are available for several virtual appliances. These are documented in VMware KB article 2144032.

RECOMMENDATIONS

VMware recommends customers evaluate and deploy patches for affected products in Table 1 and 2 below as these patches become available. In case patches are not available, customers are advised to deploy the workaround.


Column 4 of the following tables lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.

Table 1 - ESXi

4. Solution

ESXi
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Downloads:

https://www.vmware.com/patchmgr/findPatch.portal
Documentation:

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2144057 (ESXi 6.0)
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2144357 (ESXi 5.5)     

VMware virtual appliances
-------------------------------------
Refer to VMware KB article 2144032

5. References

VMware Knowledge Base article 2144032
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2144032

http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2015-7547

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6. Change Log

2016-02-22 VMSA-2016-0002
Initial security advisory in conjunction with the release of ESXi 5.5 patches and patches for virtual appliances as documented in VMware Knowledge Base article 2144032 on 2016-02-22.

2016-02-23 VMSA-2016-0002.1
Updated security advisory in conjunction with the release of ESXi 6.0 patches on 2016-02-23.
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7. Contact

E-mail list for product security notifications and announcements:

http://lists.vmware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/security-announce

This Security Advisory is posted to the following lists:

security-announce at lists.vmware.com

bugtraq at securityfocus.com

fulldisclosure at seclists.org

E-mail: security at vmware.com

PGP key at: https://kb.vmware.com/kb/1055

VMware Security Advisories

http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories

Consolidated list of VMware Security Advisories

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2078735

VMware Security Response Policy

https://www.vmware.com/support/policies/security_response.html

VMware Lifecycle Support Phases

https://www.vmware.com/support/policies/lifecycle.html

Twitter

https://twitter.com/VMwareSRC

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