1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-909-1

USN-909-1: dpkg vulnerability

Publication date

11 March 2010

Overview

dpkg vulnerability

Releases

Packages

Details

William Grant discovered that dpkg-source did not safely apply diffs
when unpacking source packages. If a user or an automated system were
tricked into unpacking a specially crafted source package, a remote
attacker could modify files outside the target unpack directory, leading
to a denial of service or potentially gaining access to the system.

William Grant discovered that dpkg-source did not safely apply diffs
when unpacking source packages. If a user or an automated system were
tricked into unpacking a specially crafted source package, a remote
attacker could modify files outside the target unpack directory, leading
to a denial of service or potentially gaining access to the system.

Update instructions

In general, a standard system upgrade is sufficient to effect 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
9.10 karmic dpkg-dev –  1.15.4ubuntu2.1
9.04 jaunty dpkg-dev –  1.14.24ubuntu1.1
8.10 intrepid dpkg-dev –  1.14.20ubuntu6.3
8.04 hardy dpkg-dev –  1.14.16.6ubuntu4.1
6.06 dapper dpkg-dev –  1.13.11ubuntu7.1

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 ›