USN-632-1: Python vulnerabilities

1 August 2008

Python vulnerabilities

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Details

It was discovered that there were new integer overflows in the imageop
module. If an attacker were able to trick a Python application into
processing a specially crafted image, they could execute arbitrary code
with user privileges. (CVE-2008-1679)

Justin Ferguson discovered that the zlib module did not correctly
handle certain archives. If an attacker were able to trick a Python
application into processing a specially crafted archive file, they could
execute arbitrary code with user privileges. (CVE-2008-1721)

Justin Ferguson discovered that certain string manipulations in Python
could be made to overflow. If an attacker were able to pass a specially
crafted string through the PyString_FromStringAndSize function, they
could execute arbitrary code with user privileges. (CVE-2008-1887)

Multiple integer overflows were discovered in Python's core and modules
including hashlib, binascii, pickle, md5, stringobject, unicodeobject,
bufferobject, longobject, tupleobject, stropmodule, gcmodule, and
mmapmodule. If an attacker were able to exploit these flaws they could
execute arbitrary code with user privileges or cause Python applications
to crash, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-2315, CVE-2008-2316,
CVE-2008-3142, CVE-2008-3143, CVE-2008-3144).

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 7.10
Ubuntu 7.04
Ubuntu 6.06

After a standard system upgrade you need to reboot your computer to
effect the necessary changes.