USN-2183-2: dpkg vulnerability

1 May 2014

A malicious source package could write files outside the unpack directory.

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

Releases

Packages

  • dpkg - Debian package management system

Details

USN-2183-1 fixed a vulnerability in dpkg. Javier Serrano Polo discovered
that the fix introduced a vulnerability in releases with an older version
of the patch utility. This update fixes the problem.

Original advisory details:

Jakub Wilk discovered that dpkg incorrectly certain paths and symlinks when
unpacking source packages. If a user or an automated system were tricked
into unpacking a specially crafted source package, a remote attacker could
modify files outside the target unpack directory, leading to a denial of
service or potentially gaining access to the system.

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 14.04
Ubuntu 13.10
Ubuntu 12.10
Ubuntu 12.04
Ubuntu 10.04

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

References

Related notices