Problem reading shadow password file

Last changed 29. Nov 1996

Description

There is a problem reading shadow password files in the libc distributed with Unifix Linux 2.0. The function getspnam() returns the address of a buffer on the stack :-! This address is then possibly overwritten before the value is used, so that the password check will fail.

Effect

POP3D and maybe a few other shadow password reading programs reject users whose password comes from the local shadow password file. Users administered through NIS/YP are not affected.

This problem is only known to occur with POP3D. If you have a similar problem with another program, please send an email to bugs@unifix.de .

Fix

Install the new C library: get the patch http://www.unifix.de/support/patches/patch-2.0.0.1.cpio , and run (as root) swinstall -s patch-2.0.0.1.cpio .

Workaround

If you are not able to replace the C library, modify the failing program to copy the password after getspnam() returns.

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