Debian: a2ps arbitrary command execution fix

Rudolf Polzer discovered a vulnerability in a2ps, a converter and pretty-printer for many formats to PostScript. The program did not escape shell meta characters properly which could lead to the execution of arbitrary commands as a privileged user if a2ps is installed as a printer filter.

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Debian Security Advisory DSA 612-1                     This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
https://www.debian.org/security/                             Martin Schulze
December 20th, 2004                     https://www.debian.org/security/faq
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Package        : a2ps
Vulnerability  : unsanitised input
Problem-Type   : local
Debian-specific: no
CVE ID         : CAN-2004-1170
BugTraq ID     : 11025
Debian Bug     : 283134

Rudolf Polzer discovered a vulnerability in a2ps, a converter and
pretty-printer for many formats to PostScript.  The program did not
escape shell meta characters properly which could lead to the
execution of arbitrary commands as a privileged user if a2ps is
installed as a printer filter.

For the stable distribution (woody) this problem has been fixed in
version 4.13b-16woody1

For the unstable distribution (sid) this problem has been fixed in
version 4.13b-4.2.

We recommend that you upgrade your a2ps package.


Upgrade Instructions
--------------------

wget url
        will fetch the file for you
dpkg -i file.deb
        will install the referenced file.

If you are using the apt-get package manager, use the line for
sources.list as given below:

apt-get update
        will update the internal database
apt-get upgrade
        will install corrected packages

You may use an automated update by adding the resources from the
footer to the proper configuration.


Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 alias woody
--------------------------------

  Source archives:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1.dsc
      Size/MD5 checksum:      725 dadf3ab28283daaf34edeb7c69a52646
    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1.diff.gz
      Size/MD5 checksum:    71239 61c84f71f4dcd123910d12264ba1f743
    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b.orig.tar.gz
      Size/MD5 checksum:  1944289 0c8e0c31b08c14f7a7198ce967eb3281

  Alpha architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_alpha.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   910612 43af4a8ce22b403d25558ed7df881fba

  ARM architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_arm.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   858618 5596ea37b56f334ed06a482eabb2527b

  Intel IA-32 architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_i386.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   843376 a39e6b6c1c5bf1e43a5bdb88867d8627

  Intel IA-64 architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_ia64.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   980186 85c43da1b384d49f8fc5ccf91a79c666

  HP Precision architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_hppa.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   897322 53b0ba66e1c7a0840fe6373ce41cc666

  Motorola 680x0 architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_m68k.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   824770 56407eeee73a0316383d42250cb27f36

  Big endian MIPS architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_mips.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   886682 912156733c4da9fd438940ef741f5794

  Little endian MIPS architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_mipsel.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   886554 387d7b39f2ede04e518961ded2f4cb05

  PowerPC architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_powerpc.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   861318 c261076b51e733f972b75ce77510c807

  IBM S/390 architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_s390.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   854722 f5731e91bac335a40bf0b38efd134b4b

  Sun Sparc architecture:

    https://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_sparc.deb
      Size/MD5 checksum:   852690 98bd7a3408de1f3154951f2ccf318e3d


  These files will probably be moved into the stable distribution on
  its next update.

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Package info: `apt-cache show ' and https://packages.debian.org/