USN-6373-1: gawk vulnerability

Publication date

14 September 2023

Overview

gawk could be made to crash if it received specially crafted input.


Packages

  • gawk - GNU awk, a pattern scanning and processing language

Details

It was discovered that gawk could be made to read out of bounds when
processing certain inputs. If a user or an automated system were tricked
into opening a specially crafted input, an attacker could possibly use
this issue to cause a denial of service.

It was discovered that gawk could be made to read out of bounds when
processing certain inputs. If a user or an automated system were tricked
into opening a specially crafted input, an attacker could possibly use
this issue to cause a denial of service.

Update instructions

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

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
22.04 jammy gawk –  1:5.1.0-1ubuntu0.1
20.04 focal gawk –  1:5.0.1+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1
18.04 bionic gawk –  1:4.1.4+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  
16.04 xenial gawk –  1:4.1.3+dfsg-0.1ubuntu0.1~esm1  
14.04 trusty gawk –  1:4.0.1+dfsg-2.1ubuntu2+esm1  

Reduce your security exposure

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