USN-1615-1: Python 3.2 vulnerabilities
23 October 2012
Several security issues were fixed in Python 3.2.
Releases
Packages
- python3.2 - An interactive high-level object-oriented language (version 3.2)
Details
It was discovered that Python distutils contained a race condition when
creating the ~/.pypirc file. A local attacker could exploit this to obtain
sensitive information. (CVE-2011-4944)
It was discovered that SimpleXMLRPCServer did not properly validate its
input when handling HTTP POST requests. A remote attacker could exploit
this to cause a denial of service via excessive CPU utilization. This issue
only affected Ubuntu 11.04 and 11.10. (CVE-2012-0845)
It was discovered that Python was susceptible to hash algorithm attacks.
An attacker could cause a denial of service under certian circumstances.
This update adds the '-R' command line option and honors setting the
PYTHONHASHSEED environment variable to 'random' to salt str and datetime
objects with an unpredictable value. This issue only affected Ubuntu 11.04
and 11.10. (CVE-2012-1150)
Serhiy Storchaka discovered that the UTF16 decoder in Python did not
properly reset internal variables after error handling. An attacker could
exploit this to cause a denial of service via memory corruption. This issue
did not affect Ubuntu 12.10. (CVE-2012-2135)
Update instructions
The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:
Ubuntu 12.10
Ubuntu 12.04
Ubuntu 11.10
Ubuntu 11.04
In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.