1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-5334-1

USN-5334-1: man-db vulnerability

Publication date

17 March 2022

Overview

man-db could be made to overwrite file and directory permissions.

Releases

Packages

  • man-db - on-line manual pager

Details

It was discovered that man-db incorrectly handled permission changing
operations in its daily cron job, and was therefore affected by a race
condition. An attacker could possibly use this issue to escalate privileges
and execute arbitrary code.

It was discovered that man-db incorrectly handled permission changing
operations in its daily cron job, and was therefore affected by a race
condition. An attacker could possibly use this issue to escalate privileges
and execute arbitrary code.

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
16.04 xenial man-db –  2.7.5-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  

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References

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