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ESX Server 3.0.2, Patch ESX-1006356: Service Console Security Update to BIND

Details

Release Date: 08/28/08
Document Last Updated: 08/28/08
 
Product Versions
ESX Server 3.0.2
Patch Classification
Security
Supersedes
Virtual Machine Migration or Reboot Required
No
ESX Server Host Reboot Required
No
PRs Fixed

302915

Affected Hardware
N/A
Affected Software
Unknown
RPMs Included
bind-libs-9.2.4-22.el3, bind-utils-9.2.4-22.el3
Related CVE numbers
CVE-2008-1447

Summary

This update upgrades the service console rpms for bind-utils and bind-lib to version 9.2.4-22.el3.
 
Version 9.2.4.-22.el3 addresses the recently discovered vulnerability in the BIND software used for Domain Name resolution (DNS). VMware doesn't install all the BIND packages on ESX Server and is not vulnerable by default to the reported vulnerability. Of the BIND packages, VMware only ships bind-util and bind-lib in the service console and these components by themselves cannot be used to setup a DNS server. Bind-lib and bind-util are used in client DNS applications like nsupdate, nslookup, etc.
 
VMware explicitly discourages installing applications like BIND on the service console. In case the customer has installed BIND, and the DNS server is configured to support recursive queries, their ESX Server system is affected and they should replace BIND with a patched version.
 
Note: ESX Server will use the DNS server on the network it is on, so it is important to patch that DNS server.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) assigned the name CVE-2008-1447 to this issue.  

Solution

Symptoms

N/A 

Deployment Considerations

N/A

Download Instructions   

Download and verify the patch bundle as follows:

  1. Download patch ESX-1006356 from http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/vi3_patches.html.

  2. Log in to the ESX Server service console as root.

  3. Create a local depot directory.

    # mkdir -p /var/updates

    Note: VMware recommends that you use the updates directory.

  4. Change your working directory to /var/updates.

    # cd /var/updates
  5. Download the tar file into the /var/updates directory.

  6. Verify the integrity of the downloaded tar file:

    # md5sum ESX-1006356.tgz

    The md5 checksum output should match the following: 

    f0bc9d0b641954145df3986cdb1c2bab ESX-1006356.tgz
  7. Extract the compressed tar archive:

    # tar -xvzf ESX-1006356.tgz
  8. Change to the newly created directory, /var/updates/ESX-1006356:

    # cd ESX-1006356  

Installation Instructions

After you download and extract the archive, and if you are in the directory that you previously created, use the following command to install the update:

# esxupdate update

To run esxupdate from a different directory, you must specify the bundle path in the command:

# esxupdate -r file://<directory>/ESX-1006356 update

For example, if the host is called depot:

# esxupdate -r file:///depot/var/updates/ESX-1006356 update

During the update process, logs appear on the terminal. You can specify the verbosity of esxupdate logs by using the -v option as shown, below.

# esxupdate -v 10 file://<directory>/ESX-1006356 update

For more information on how to use esxupdate, see the Patch Management for ESX Server 3 tech note at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_esxupdate.pdf.

Keywords

esxpatch;esx302

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Actions
  • KB Article: 1006356
  • Updated: Aug 28, 2008
  • Product Versions:
    VMware ESX 3.0.x