USN-1477-1: APT vulnerability

15 June 2012

An attacker could trick APT into installing altered packages.

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Releases

Packages

  • apt - Advanced front-end for dpkg

Details

Georgi Guninski discovered that APT did not properly validate imported
keyrings via apt-key net-update. USN-1475-1 added additional verification
for imported keyrings, but it was insufficient. If a remote attacker were
able to perform a machine-in-the-middle attack, this flaw could potentially be
used to install altered packages. This update corrects the issue by
disabling the net-update option completely. A future update will re-enable
the option with corrected verification.

Reduce your security exposure

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.

Learn more about Ubuntu Pro

Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 8.04
Ubuntu 12.04
Ubuntu 11.10
Ubuntu 11.04
Ubuntu 10.04

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

References