1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-148-1

USN-148-1: zlib vulnerability

Publication date

6 July 2005

Overview

zlib vulnerability

Releases

Details

Tavis Ormandy discovered that zlib did not properly verify data
streams. Decompressing certain invalid compressed files caused
corruption of internal data structures, which caused applications
which link to zlib to crash. Specially crafted input might even have
allowed arbitrary code execution.

zlib is used by hundreds of server and client applications, so this
vulnerability could be exploited to cause Denial of Service attacks to
almost all services provided by an Ubuntu system.

Tavis Ormandy discovered that zlib did not properly verify data
streams. Decompressing certain invalid compressed files caused
corruption of internal data structures, which caused applications
which link to zlib to crash. Specially crafted input might even have
allowed arbitrary code execution.

zlib is used by hundreds of server and client applications, so this
vulnerability could be exploited to cause Denial of Service attacks to
almost all services provided by an Ubuntu system.

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
5.04 hoary zlib1g – 
4.10 warty zlib1g – 

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References

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