[Announce] [security fix] GnuPG 1.4.15 released
Werner Koch
wk at gnupg.org
Sat Oct 5 10:56:32 CEST 2013
Hello!
We are pleased to announce the availability of a new stable GnuPG-1
release: Version 1.4.15. This is a *security fix* release and all users
are advised to updated to this version. See below for the impact of the
problem.
The GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) is GNU's tool for secure communication
and data storage. It is a complete and free replacement of PGP and
can be used to encrypt data and to create digital signatures. It
includes an advanced key management facility, smartcard support and is
compliant with the OpenPGP Internet standard as described by RFC-4880.
Note that this version is from the GnuPG-1 series and thus smaller than
those from the GnuPG-2 series, easier to build, and also better portable
to ancient platforms. In contrast to GnuPG-2 (e.g version 2.0.22) it
comes with no support for S/MIME, Secure Shell, or other tools useful
for desktop environments. Fortunately you may install both versions
alongside on the same system without any conflict.
What's New
===========
* Fixed possible infinite recursion in the compressed packet
parser. [CVE-2013-4402]
* Protect against rogue keyservers sending secret keys.
* Use 2048 bit also as default for batch key generation.
* Minor bug fixes.
Impact of the security problem
==============================
Special crafted input data may be used to cause a denial of service
against GPG (GnuPG's OpenPGP part) and some other OpenPGP
implementations. All systems using GPG to process incoming data are
affected.
Taylor R. Campbell invented a neat trick to generate OpenPGP packages
to force GPG to recursively parse certain parts of OpenPGP messages ad
infinitum. As a workaround a tight "ulimit -v" setting may be used to
mitigate the problem. Sample input data to trigger this problem has
not yet been seen in the wild. Details of the attack will eventually
be published by its inventor.
A fixed release of the GnuPG 2.0 series has also been released.
Getting the Software
====================
First of all, decide whether you really need GnuPG version 1.4.x - most
users are better off with the modern GnuPG 2.0.x version. Then follow
the instructions found at http://www.gnupg.org/download/ or read on:
GnuPG 1.4.15 may be downloaded from one of the GnuPG mirror sites or
direct from ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/ . The list of mirrors can be
found at http://www.gnupg.org/mirrors.html . Note, that GnuPG is not
available at ftp.gnu.org.
On the mirrors you should find the following files in the *gnupg*
directory:
gnupg-1.4.15.tar.bz2 (3569k)
gnupg-1.4.15.tar.bz2.sig
GnuPG source compressed using BZIP2 and OpenPGP signature.
gnupg-1.4.15.tar.gz (4948k)
gnupg-1.4.15.tar.gz.sig
GnuPG source compressed using GZIP and OpenPGP signature.
gnupg-1.4.14-1.4.15.diff.bz2 (37k)
A patch file to upgrade a 1.4.14 GnuPG source tree. This patch
does not include updates of the language files.
Select one of them. To shorten the download time, you probably want to
get the BZIP2 compressed file. Please try another mirror if exceptional
your mirror is not yet up to date.
In the *binary* directory, you should find these files:
gnupg-w32cli-1.4.15.exe (1568k)
gnupg-w32cli-1.4.15.exe.sig
GnuPG compiled for Microsoft Windows and OpenPGP signature.
This is a command line only version; the source files are the
same as given above. Note, that this is a minimal installer and
unless you are just in need for the gpg binary, you are better
off using the full featured installer at http://www.gpg4win.org .
An updated version of gpg4win is scheduled for next week.
Checking the Integrity
======================
In order to check that the version of GnuPG which you are going to
install is an original and unmodified one, you can do it in one of
the following ways:
* If you already have a trusted version of GnuPG installed, you
can simply check the supplied signature. For example to check the
signature of the file gnupg-1.4.15.tar.bz2 you would use this command:
gpg --verify gnupg-1.4.15.tar.bz2.sig
This checks whether the signature file matches the source file.
You should see a message indicating that the signature is good and
made by that signing key. Make sure that you have the right key,
either by checking the fingerprint of that key with other sources
or by checking that the key has been signed by a trustworthy other
key. Note, that you can retrieve the signing key using the command
finger wk ,at' g10code.com | gpg --import
or using a keyserver like
gpg --recv-key 4F25E3B6
The distribution key 4F25E3B6 is signed by the well known key
1E42B367. If you get an key expired message, you should retrieve a
fresh copy as the expiration date might have been prolonged.
NEVER USE A GNUPG VERSION YOU JUST DOWNLOADED TO CHECK THE
INTEGRITY OF THE SOURCE - USE AN EXISTING GNUPG INSTALLATION!
* If you are not able to use an old version of GnuPG, you have to verify
the SHA-1 checksum. Assuming you downloaded the file
gnupg-1.4.14.tar.bz2, you would run the sha1sum command like this:
sha1sum gnupg-1.4.15.tar.bz2
and check that the output matches the first line from the
following list:
63ebf0ab375150903c65738070e4105200197fd4 gnupg-1.4.15.tar.bz2
2881c8174c15bb86ecf2e879cb7ca22c91fbcf93 gnupg-1.4.15.tar.gz
0e3a593da55be0fb9a556513ce034e13677e5ebc gnupg-1.4.14-1.4.15.diff.bz2
1adda83f3eda5a2ac6d362c294e31fbb529a03e4 gnupg-w32cli-1.4.15.exe
Internationalization
====================
GnuPG comes with support for 29 languages. The Chinese (Simple and
Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Norwegian, Polish,
Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, and Turkish translations
are close to be complete.
Support
=======
A listing with commercial support offers for GnuPG is available at:
http://www.gnupg.org/service.html
The driving force behind the development of GnuPG is the company of its
principal author, Werner Koch. Maintenance and improvement of GnuPG and
related software take up a most of their resources. To allow them
continue their work they ask to either purchase a support contract,
engage them for custom enhancements, or to donate money:
http://g10code.com/gnupg-donation.html
Thanks
======
We have to thank all the people who helped with this release, be it
testing, coding, translating, suggesting, auditing, donating money,
spreading the word, or answering questions on the mailing lists.
Happy Hacking,
The GnuPG Team
--
Die Gedanken sind frei. Ausnahmen regelt ein Bundesgesetz.
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