Vulnerability found in the way Lynx handles external protocols
20 Sep. 1999
Summary
When lynx calls external programs for protocols (e.g. telnet), the location is passed unchecked. This can be used to activate command-line parameters. For example, this reference <A HREF="telnet://-n.rhosts"> click me </A> would activate the tracefile options on the telnet client, with the result, that a .rhosts in the current directory would created or overwritten.
Credit:
This vulnerability has been reported by: Marc Heuse.
Depending on the external programs called by lynx, files can be created or truncated, or even remote commands being executed. For example, ssh or rsh can be configured in lynx.
Solution:
Update the lynx package from SuSE's FTP server.
Here are the md5 checksums of the upgrade packages, please verify these before installing the new packages:
