From: CERT Advisory (cert-advisorycert.org)
Date: Wed Aug 13 2003 - 16:49:09 CDT

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CERT Advisory CA-2003-21 GNU Project FTP Server Compromise

   Original issue date: August 13, 2003
   Last revised: --
   Source: CERT/CC

   A complete revision history is at the end of this file.

Overview

   The CERT/CC has received a report that the system housing the primary
   FTP servers for the GNU software project was compromised.

I. Description

   The GNU Project, principally sponsored by the Free Software Foundation
   (FSF), produces a variety of freely available software. The CERT/CC
   has learned that the system housing the primary FTP servers for the
   GNU software project, gnuftp.gnu.org, was root compromised by an
   intruder. The more common host names of ftp.gnu.org and alpha.gnu.org
   are aliases for the same compromised system. The compromise is
   reported to have occurred in March of 2003.

   The FSF has released an announcement describing the incident.

   Because this system serves as a centralized archive of popular
   software, the insertion of malicious code into the distributed
   software is a serious threat. As the above announcement indicates,
   however, no source code distributions are believed to have been
   maliciously modified at this time.

II. Impact

   The potential exists for an intruder to have inserted back doors,
   Trojan horses, or other malicious code into the source code
   distributions of software housed on the compromised system.

III. Solution

   We encourage sites using the GNU software obtained from the
   compromised system to verify the integrity of their distribution.

   Sites that mirror the source code are encouraged to verify the
   integrity of their sources. We also encourage users to inspect any and
   all other software that may have been downloaded from the compromised
   site. Note that it is not always sufficient to rely on the timestamps
   or file sizes when trying to determine whether or not a copy of the
   file has been modified.

Verifying checksums

   The FSF has produced PGP-signed lists of known-good MD5 hashes of the
   software packages housed on the compromised server. These lists can be
   found at

          ftp://ftp.gnu.org/before-2003-08-01.md5sums.asc
          ftp://alpha.gnu.org/before-2003-08-01.md5sums.asc

   Note that both of these files and the announcement above are signed by
   Bradley Kuhn, Executive Director of the FSF, with the following PGP
   key:

pub 1024D/DB41B387 1999-12-09 Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhnfsf.org>
     Key fingerprint = 4F40 645E 46BE 0131 48F9 92F6 E775 E324 DB41 B387
uid Bradley M. Kuhn (bkuhn99) <bkuhnebb.org>
uid Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhngnu.org>
sub 2048g/75CA9CB3 1999-12-09

   The CERT/CC believes this key to be valid.

   As a matter of good security practice, the CERT/CC encourages users to
   verify, whenever possible, the integrity of downloaded software. For
   more information, see IN-2001-06.

Appendix A. - Vendor Information

   This appendix contains information provided by vendors for this
   advisory. As vendors report new information to the CERT/CC, we will
   update this section and note the changes in our revision history. If a
   particular vendor is not listed below, we have not received their
   comments.

Free Software Foundation

   The current files on alpha.gnu.org and ftp.gnu.org as of 2003-08-02 have
   all been verified, and their md5sums and the reasons we believe the
   md5sums can be trusted are in:

       ftp://ftp.gnu.org/before-2003-08-01.md5sums.asc
       ftp://alpha.gnu.org/before-2003-08-01.md5sums.asc

   We are updating that file and the site as we confirm good md5sums of
   additional files. It is theoretically possible that downloads between
   March 2003 and July 2003 might have been source-compromised, so we
   encourage everyone to re-download sources and compare with the current
   copies for files on the site.

Appendix B. References

     * FSF announcement regarding the incident -
       ftp://ftp.gnu.org/MISSING-FILES.README
     * CERT Incident Note IN-2001-06 -
       http://www.cert.org/incident_notes/IN-2001-06.html
     _________________________________________________________________

   The CERT/CC thanks Bradley Kuhn and Brett Smith of the Free Software
   Foundation for their timely assistance in this matter.
     _________________________________________________________________

   Feedback can be directed to the author: Chad Dougherty.
   ______________________________________________________________________

   This document is available from:
   http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-21.html
   ______________________________________________________________________

CERT/CC Contact Information

   Email: certcert.org
          Phone: +1 412-268-7090 (24-hour hotline)
          Fax: +1 412-268-6989
          Postal address:
          CERT Coordination Center
          Software Engineering Institute
          Carnegie Mellon University
          Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890
          U.S.A.

   CERT/CC personnel answer the hotline 08:00-17:00 EST(GMT-5) /
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   Copyright 2002 Carnegie Mellon University.

   Revision History
August 13, 2003: Initial release

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