USN-1395-1: PyPAM vulnerability

8 March 2012

PyPAM could be made to crash or possibly run programs if it processed a specially crafted password.

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Releases

Packages

  • python-pam - A Python interface to the PAM library

Details

Markus Vervier discovered that PyPAM incorrectly handled passwords
containing NULL bytes. An attacker could exploit this to cause applications
using PyPAM to crash, or possibly execute arbitrary code.

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Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

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Update instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu 11.10
Ubuntu 11.04
Ubuntu 10.10
Ubuntu 10.04

After a standard system update you need to restart applications that use
PyPAM to make all the necessary changes.

References

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Further reading