Gentoo: GLSA-200512-01 High: Perl Format String Code Execution Risk

Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 200512-01 https://security.gentoo.org/ Severity: High Title: Perl: Format string errors can lead to code execution Date: December 07, 2005 Bugs: #114113 ID: 200512-01

Synopsis ======= A fix is available for Perl to mitigate the effects of format string programming errors, that could otherwise be exploited to execute arbitrary code.
Background ========= Perl is a stable, cross-platform programming language created by Larry Wall. It contains printf functions that allows construction of strings from format specifiers and parameters, like the C printf functions. A well-known class of vulnerabilities, called format string errors, result of the improper use of the printf functions in C. Perl in itself is vulnerable to a limited form of format string errors through its own sprintf function, especially through wrapper functions that call sprintf (for example t...