Recently, a security issue affecting shared installations of nethack 3.4.0
where the game was installed setuid or setgid was discovered. This bug has
now been fixed.
This issue was reported to bugtraq by tsao_4sh0@hushmail.com on 2/8/03
as "Subject: #!ICadv-02.09.03: nethack 3.4.0 local buffer overflow".
That report referred specifically to a Linux RPM not created by the
devteam. However, the bug existed in the official nethack source as well.
Solutions:
1) The nethack 3.4.1 patch release, which was released on 2/23/2003,
includes a fix for this issue. The 3.4.1 version can be downloaded from
http://nethack.sourceforge.net/v341/downloads.html
Source and pre-built binaries for many platforms are available.
Additional information on 3.4.1 can be found at
http://nethack.sourceforge.net/v341/release.html
2) If upgrading to 3.4.1 is not desired, a patch can be applied
to the 3.4.0 source. The patch is available at
http://nethack.sourceforge.net/v340/bugmore/secpatch.txt
Contact:
Security issues in nethack can be reported to devteam@nethack.org
or by using the e-mail form at
http://nethack.sourceforge.net/common/contact.html
Dave Cohrs
for the Nethack Development Team
