Security Alerts
Security Alert: Critical Vulnerability in Samba
Date: Feb 2015
Action: Update Samba Now
Description: Samba is an open source and most popular widely used program that enables end users to access Linux shared directory from any windows machine on the same network. Samba is also named as a network file system and can be installed on Linux/Unix operating systems. Samba itself is a client/server protocol of SMB ( Server Message Block) and CIFS (Common Internet File System). Using windows smbclient (GUI) or file explorer, end users can connect to Samba server from any windows workstations to access shared files and printers.
A critical vulnerability in the Samba, a popular Windows interoperability suite of programs found on Linux and Unix systems, has been reported. This flaw can allow attackers to compromise a system running a Samba server, giving the attacker root-level privileges on the affected system.The IT Security Office encourages anyone maintaining a Unix computer that is running a Samba/SMB server to update their version of Samba immediately. Software updates to Samba are available from the operating system developers that correct this flaw.
All versions of Samba 3.5 and later are affected by this flaw. This affects Samba found on any Unix-based operating system.
More information on this issue can be found here:
https://securityblog.redhat.com/2015/02/23/samba-vulnerability-cve-2015-0240/
https://www.samba.org/samba/history/security.html
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-0240
If you have any questions about this or any other security issue, please contact Selection cs.
Security Alert: SSL vulnerability could affect user privacy
Date: Oct 2014
Description: A new vulnerability in SSL version 3.0, which could be running as part of any web browser or server, was recently announced. This vulnerability could allow a criminal to intercept traffic that is otherwise "secure and encrypted" and view that traffic.
For end users: The developers for the commonly-used web browsers, such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and IE, will be updating their browsers to disable the use of SSLv3, which will remove this vulnerability. Each browser can be currently configured to disable SSLv3, but we encourage you to contact you local technical support or the CIT Service Desk before making any configuration changes to your web browser. When a software update becomes available for your browser, we strongly encourage you to apply it.
For web server administrators: We encourage you to research the potential impact of disabling SSLv3 and to do so if possible. Some resources that you can reference are:
[ Tips on how to disable SSLv3 support in client and server-side applications ] https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/POODLE+Turning+off+SSLv3+for+various+servers+and+client+/18837
[ Google blog post and research paper on POODLE flaw ] http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2014/10/this-poodle-bites-exploiting-ssl-30.html https://www.openssl.org/~bodo/ssl-poodle.pdf
[ Red Hat Security Blog ] https://securityblog.redhat.com/2014/10/15/poodle-a-ssl3-vulnerability-cve-2014-3566/