USN-4538-1: PackageKit vulnerabilities

24 September 2020

Several security issues were fixed in PackageKit.

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Releases

Packages

  • packagekit - Provides a package management service

Details

Vaisha Bernard discovered that PackageKit incorrectly handled certain
methods. A local attacker could use this issue to learn the MIME type of
any file on the system. (CVE-2020-16121)

Sami Niemimäki discovered that PackageKit incorrectly handled local deb
packages. A local user could possibly use this issue to install untrusted
packages, contrary to expectations. (CVE-2020-16122)

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 20.04
Ubuntu 18.04
Ubuntu 16.04

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

References

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Further reading