📖 ~4 min read • Source: FreeBSD VuXML
VuXML topic: neon format string vulnerabilities
Related CVEs: CVE-2004-0179
Upstream summary: Greuff reports that the neon WebDAV client library contains several format string bugs within error reporting code. A malicious server may exploit these bugs by sending specially crafted PROPFIND or PROPPATCH responses. Although several applications include neon, such as cadaver and subversion, the FreeBSD Ports of these applications are not impacted. They are specifically configured to NOT use the included neon. Only packages listed as affected in this notice are believed to
Table of contents
Symptom & Impact
Nothing visibly changes on a FreeBSD 15 host until tla 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 tla is run under sudo or from a privileged job, the same flaw becomes local privilege escalation. tla 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 15. Confirm with freebsd-version -kru, uname -a, and the installed package via pkg info tla and pkg query "%n-%v" tla. Capture system state with pkg audit -F and service -e. Trigger the workflow that exposes tla while collecting tail -200 /var/log/messages, dmesg -a, and /var/log/pkg.log.
Root Cause Analysis
Root cause is tracked at FreeBSD VuXML. The FreeBSD ports security team shipped a corrective tla port revision; hosts on an outdated build remain exposed. Correlate /var/log/pkg.log with /var/log/messages and kernel state in sysctl kern.lastpid + sysctl kern.osreldate to isolate the change that triggered the failure mode.
Quick Triage
Quick triage: tail -100 /var/log/messages, pkg audit -F, pkg version -v tla, and pfctl -sr (or ipfw list) to confirm firewall posture. For kernel issues: dmesg -a | tail -100 and kldstat.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis
1) service -e to enumerate failed services. 2) tail -F /var/log/messages and dmesg. 3) Validate firewall via pfctl -sr -v or ipfw show. 4) pkg check -B tla for integrity. 5) pkg install -fy tla to reinstall if tampered. 6) Correlate findings with /var/log/pkg.log and FreeBSD VuXML to pin the commit that introduced the regression.
Solution – Primary Fix
Primary fix: install the corrective tla port revision referenced by FreeBSD VuXML. Typical commands: sudo pkg update, sudo pkg upgrade tla (or sudo pkg upgrade -y for the whole system), then and pkg audit to confirm no remaining advisories. For ports tree builders: sudo portsnap fetch update + cd /usr/ports/<cat>/tla && sudo make deinstall reinstall clean. Reboot if the kernel module is involved.
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Solution – Alternative Approaches
Alternatives include locking the package with sudo pkg lock tla until vetted, downgrading via pkg install <older-version> from a pinned repo, switching the FreeBSD pkg repository between quarterly and latest in /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD.conf, isolating the affected service in a jail (iocage/bastille) with stricter firewall rules, or replacing the service with a vendored static build for the period between exposure detection and full rollout.
Verification & Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance: pkg info tla shows the expected fixed version is running, pkg audit returns no advisory for tla, tail -50 /var/log/messages shows no errors after restart, and the original reproduction for tla no longer triggers across two consecutive runs.
Rollback Plan
Capture state with pkg query "%n-%v" > /root/pkg-pre.txt and a ZFS boot-environment snapshot: bectl create pre-tla-patch. To revert, run sudo pkg install -f <previous-version> or boot the previous BE via bectl activate pre-tla-patch && reboot. For kernel/loader changes, drop to the loader prompt and select the previous boot environment.
Prevention & Hardening
Prevent recurrence by scheduling pkg audit -F via periodic.conf (daily_status_security_pkgaudit_enable="YES"), subscribing to freebsd-security-notifications, mirroring through a local pkg repo managed by poudriere, version-pinning sensitive packages with pkg lock, enabling automatic ZFS BE snapshots before upgrades, and monitoring file integrity via mtree or aide. Apply the CIS FreeBSD hardening checklist where applicable and harden jails with allow.* tunables in /etc/jail.conf.
Related Errors & Cross-Refs
Related issues that commonly surface alongside tla: pkg lock contention, mismatched ABI after kernel/userland skew (freebsd-version vs uname -K), pf rule drift, and stale shared-library references after upgrade (pkg check -d).
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References & Further Reading
Primary reference: FreeBSD VuXML. Supporting docs: FreeBSD Handbook, man pkg, man freebsd-update, man pfctl, man ipfw, man bectl, man periodic.conf, the FreeBSD Security Advisories at security.freebsd.org, and /usr/ports/UPDATING for port-specific notes implicated in this advisory.
