USN-2078-1: libXfont vulnerability

7 January 2014

libXfont could be made to crash or run programs as an administrator if it opened a specially crafted font file.

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Releases

Packages

  • libxfont - X11 font rasterisation library

Details

It was discovered that libXfont incorrectly handled certain malformed BDF
fonts. An attacker could use a specially crafted font file to cause
libXfont to crash, or possibly execute arbitrary code in order to gain
privileges. The default compiler options for affected releases should
reduce the vulnerability to a denial of service.

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 13.10
Ubuntu 13.04
Ubuntu 12.10
Ubuntu 12.04
Ubuntu 10.04

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make
all the necessary changes.

References

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Further reading