1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-1721-1

USN-1721-1: curl vulnerability

Publication date

12 February 2013

Overview

curl could be made to crash or run programs if it opened a malicious URL.

Releases

Packages

  • curl - HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP client and client libraries

Details

It was discovered that curl incorrectly handled SASL authentication when
communicating over POP3, SMTP or IMAP. If a user or automated system were
tricked into processing a specially crafted URL, an attacker could cause
a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. The default
compiler options for affected releases should reduce the vulnerability to a
denial of service.

It was discovered that curl incorrectly handled SASL authentication when
communicating over POP3, SMTP or IMAP. If a user or automated system were
tricked into processing a specially crafted URL, an attacker could cause
a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. The default
compiler options for affected releases should reduce the vulnerability to 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
12.10 quantal libcurl3-nss –  7.27.0-1ubuntu1.1
libcurl3-gnutls –  7.27.0-1ubuntu1.1
libcurl3 –  7.27.0-1ubuntu1.1

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.

Get Ubuntu Pro

References

Have additional questions?

Talk to a member of the team ›