FreeBSD 12 — a2ps-letterdj — multiple vulnerabilities (2 CVEs) — patch and remediation guide

📖 ~4 min read  •  Source: FreeBSD VuXML

VuXML topic: a2ps — insecure temporary file creation

Related CVEs: CVE-2004-1170 CVE-2004-1377

Upstream summary: A Secunia Security Advisory reports that Javier Fernández-Sanguino Peña has found temporary file creation vulnerabilities in the fixps and psmandup scripts which are part of a2ps. These vulnerabilities could lead to an attacker overwriting arbitrary files with the credentials of the user running the vulnerable scripts.

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Nothing visibly changes on a FreeBSD 12 host until a2ps-letterdj is next invoked: it runs, exits and leaves no daemon behind, so there is no restart loop or service log to watch. Exposure is per-invocation, and the invocations that matter are the unattended ones — cron jobs, backup and deployment scripts, CI runners, and anything passing attacker-influenced input such as a remote URL, a supplied archive or an untrusted filename. Where a2ps-letterdj is run under sudo or from a privileged job, the same flaw becomes local privilege escalation. a2ps-letterdj ships command-line programs that run when invoked and then exit, so there is no service to restart — service(8) and /var/log/messages have nothing to act on; only the next invocation matters.

Environment & Reproduction

Reproduction targets FreeBSD 12. Confirm release, installed package, and capture baseline state:

freebsd-version -kru
uname -a
pkg info a2ps-letterdj
pkg query "%n-%v" a2ps-letterdj
pkg audit -F
service -e

Exercise the workload that uses a2ps-letterdj while collecting:

tail -200 /var/log/messages
dmesg -a | tail -200
tail -200 /var/log/pkg.log

Root Cause Analysis

Root cause is tracked at FreeBSD VuXML. The FreeBSD ports security team shipped a corrective a2ps-letterdj port revision; hosts on an outdated build remain exposed. Correlate package logs with system logs and kernel state to isolate the change that triggered the failure mode:

tail -500 /var/log/pkg.log
tail -500 /var/log/messages
sysctl kern.lastpid
sysctl kern.osreldate     # numeric __FreeBSD_version, e.g. 1400097

Quick Triage

Run these checks on FreeBSD 12 to confirm the failure mode and current state of a2ps-letterdj:

pkg version -v a2ps-letterdj                # installed vs available version
pkg audit a2ps-letterdj                     # advisory match for this package
tail -100 /var/log/messages
dmesg -a | tail -100
kldstat                              # kernel module state (for kernel/driver pkgs)
pfctl -sr 2>/dev/null || ipfw list   # only if pf/ipfw is enabled
# e.g. bind918→named, php83→php-fpm), check it:
pkg query '%Fp' a2ps-letterdj | sed -n 's|.*/etc/rc\.d/||p'  # FreeBSD: the REAL service name(s) = basename of the rc.d script (bind918 -> named, postgresql16-server -> postgresql, apache24 -> apache24)
pkg query '%b' a2ps-letterdj  # FreeBSD: shared libraries PROVIDED by a2ps-letterdj. Non-empty here + no rc.d script = it is a library: patch it, then restart its consumers

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

1. List enabled services (only relevant if the package provides one).

   service -e

2. Follow live logs.

   tail -F /var/log/messages
   dmesg

3. Validate firewall rules (skip if neither pf nor ipfw is enabled).

   pfctl -sr -v 2>/dev/null || ipfw show

4. Check package integrity for a2ps-letterdj.

   pkg check -B a2ps-letterdj
   pkg check -d a2ps-letterdj    # verify shared-library deps

5. Reinstall a2ps-letterdj if integrity check fails.

   pkg install -fy a2ps-letterdj

6. Correlate findings with /var/log/pkg.log and FreeBSD VuXML to pin the commit that introduced the regression.

Solution – Primary Fix

Install the corrective a2ps-letterdj port revision referenced by FreeBSD VuXML:

sudo pkg update
sudo pkg upgrade a2ps-letterdj              # or: sudo pkg upgrade -y for the whole system
pkg audit a2ps-letterdj                    # confirm no remaining advisory for this package

For ports-tree builders (FreeBSD 13.x and earlier used portsnap; on FreeBSD 14+ the ports tree is fetched with Git):

# FreeBSD 14+ (portsnap was removed):
sudo pkg install -y git-lite
sudo git clone --depth 1 https://git.FreeBSD.org/ports.git /usr/ports
# FreeBSD 13.x and earlier:
# sudo portsnap fetch update
cd /usr/ports/<category>/a2ps-letterdj
sudo make deinstall reinstall clean

Reboot only if the package ships a kernel module or replaces a shared library used by long-running daemons.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

If the primary fix is not viable, choose from these alternatives:

• Lock the package until the fix is vetted:

  sudo pkg lock a2ps-letterdj

• Downgrade to a known-good revision. pkg install pkgname-VERSION is not a real downgrade syntax — fetch a specific build instead:

  # 1. Discover available versions across configured repos:
  pkg search -e a2ps-letterdj
  pkg rquery -r FreeBSD-quarterly '%n-%v' a2ps-letterdj
  # 2. Install from a specific saved .pkg file:
  sudo pkg add -f /path/to/a2ps-letterdj-<older-version>.pkg
  # 3. Or switch the host repo to the quarterly branch (see snippet below) and:
  sudo pkg upgrade -fr FreeBSD-quarterly a2ps-letterdj

• Switch the pkg repository between quarterly and latest by editing /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD.conf:

  FreeBSD: {
    url: "pkg+https://pkg.FreeBSD.org/${ABI}/quarterly",
    mirror_type: "srv",
    signature_type: "fingerprints",
    fingerprints: "/usr/share/keys/pkg",
    enabled: yes
  }

• Isolate the affected service in a jail with stricter firewall rules:

  iocage create -n a2ps-letterdj-jail -r 12.4-RELEASE
  iocage set allow_raw_sockets=0 a2ps-letterdj-jail
  # or with Bastille:
  bastille create a2ps-letterdj-jail 12.4-RELEASE 10.0.0.10

• Replace the service with a vendored static build for the period between exposure detection and full rollout.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

All of these should pass after the fix:

pkg info a2ps-letterdj                # shows the expected fixed version
pkg audit a2ps-letterdj               # no advisory for this package (exit code 0)
tail -50 /var/log/messages   # no new errors after upgrade
# If a2ps-letterdj ships a service, confirm it is running under its rc.d name:

The conditions described in the advisory must no longer be reported for a2ps-letterdj across two consecutive runs.

Rollback Plan

Capture state before any change (only ZFS root has boot environments — UFS hosts skip bectl):

pkg query "%n-%v" > /root/pkg-pre.txt
# ZFS-on-root only:
sudo bectl create pre-a2ps-letterdj-patch

To revert if the upgrade is bad, reinstall the previously saved .pkg file:

sudo pkg add -f /var/cache/pkg/a2ps-letterdj-<previous-version>.pkg
# Or activate the pre-patch boot environment and reboot (ZFS-on-root only):
sudo bectl activate pre-a2ps-letterdj-patch
sudo shutdown -r now

For kernel/loader changes on a UFS host, boot the previous kernel from the loader prompt (press 3 at the menu, then boot kernel.old).

Prevention & Hardening

Prevent recurrence on FreeBSD 12 hosts running a2ps-letterdj:

• Enable the daily security pkg audit in /etc/periodic.conf:

  daily_status_security_pkgaudit_enable="YES"

• Subscribe to freebsd-security-notifications at lists.freebsd.org.

• Mirror through a local pkg repository managed by poudriere:

  poudriere jail -c -j 12amd64 -v 12.4-RELEASE
  poudriere ports -c -p default
  poudriere bulk -j 12amd64 -p default <category>/a2ps-letterdj

• Version-pin sensitive packages:

  sudo pkg lock a2ps-letterdj

• Take an automatic ZFS boot-environment snapshot before every upgrade (ZFS root only):

  sudo bectl create pre-upgrade-$(date +%Y%m%d)

• Monitor file integrity (create a baseline, verify against it later):

  # Create a baseline (use -c; target /usr/local/etc, /etc, /boot — NOT /):
  sudo mtree -c -K sha256digest -p /usr/local/etc > /var/db/usr-local-etc.mtree
  sudo mtree -c -K sha256digest -p /etc          > /var/db/etc.mtree
  # Verify later:
  sudo mtree -p /usr/local/etc < /var/db/usr-local-etc.mtree
  # Or with AIDE for a richer ruleset:
  sudo pkg install -y aide && sudo aide --init && sudo aide --check

• Harden jails with allow.* tunables in /etc/jail.conf:

  a2ps-letterdj_jail {
    allow.raw_sockets = 0;
    allow.sysvipc    = 0;
    allow.mount      = 0;
    allow.chflags    = 0;
  }

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Issues that commonly surface alongside a a2ps-letterdj update: pkg lock contention, mismatched ABI after kernel/userland skew, pf rule drift, and stale shared-library references after upgrade. Triage with:

freebsd-version -kru
uname -K
pkg check -d
pfctl -sr

View all freebsd-12 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

Primary reference: FreeBSD VuXML. Useful manual pages on FreeBSD 12:

man pkg
man freebsd-update
man pfctl
man ipfw
man bectl
man periodic.conf

Other resources: the FreeBSD Handbook, the FreeBSD Security Advisories at security.freebsd.org, and the /usr/ports/UPDATING file for port-specific notes implicated in this advisory.