XFree86 is an implementation of the X Window System, providing the core
graphical user interface and video drivers.
iDefense discovered two buffer overflows in the parsing of the ‘font.alias’
file. A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability by creating a
carefully-crafted file and gaining root privileges.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has
assigned the names CAN-2004-0083 and CAN-2004-0084 to these issues.
Additionally David Dawes discovered additional flaws in reading font files.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has
assigned the name CAN-2004-0106 to these issues.
All users of XFree86 are advised to upgrade to these erratum packages,
which contain a backported fix and are not vulnerable to these issues.
Red Hat would like to thank David Dawes from XFree86 for the patches and
notification of these issues.