kfax: Multiple overflows in the included TIFF library

kfax: Multiple overflows in the included TIFF library kfax contains several buffer overflows potentially leading to execution of arbitrary code. kfax 2004-12-19 2005-01-12 73795 remote 3.3.2 3.3.2

KDE is a feature-rich graphical desktop environment for Linux and Unix-like Operating Systems. kfax (part of kdegraphics) is the KDE fax file viewer.

Than Ngo discovered that kfax contains a private copy of the TIFF library and is therefore subject to several known vulnerabilities (see References).

A remote attacker could entice a user to view a carefully-crafted TIFF image file with kfax, which would potentially lead to execution of arbitrary code with the rights of the user running kfax.

The KDE Team recommends to remove the kfax binary as well as the kfaxpart.la KPart:


    rm /usr/kde/3.*/lib/kde3/kfaxpart.la
    rm /usr/kde/3.*/bin/kfax

Note: This will render the kfax functionality useless, if kfax functionality is needed you should upgrade to the KDE 3.3.2 which is not stable at the time of this writing.

There is no known workaround at this time.

All kfax users should upgrade to the latest version:


    # emerge --sync
    # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=kde-base/kdegraphics-3.3.2"

KDE Security Advisory: kfax libtiff vulnerabilities GLSA 200410-11 CAN-2004-0803 CAN-2004-0804 CAN-2004-0886 jaervosz jaervosz