Ubuntu 14.10: USN-2536-1 Moderate: libXfont Code Execution Risk

ubuntu

March 18, 2015

libXfont could be made to crash or run programs as an administrator if it opened a specially crafted bdf font file.

Summary

libXfont could be made to crash or run programs as an administrator

if it opened a specially crafted bdf font file.

Software Description:

- libxfont: X11 font rasterisation library

Details:

Ilja van Sprundel, Alan Coopersmith, and William Robinet discovered that

libXfont incorrectly handled malformed bdf fonts. A local attacker could

use this issue to cause libXfont to crash, or possibly execute arbitrary

code in order to gain privileges.

Topics Covered

security advisory moderate code execution ubuntu libxfont font vulnerability

Update Instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following
package versions:

Ubuntu 14.10:
  libxfont1                       1:1.4.99.901-1ubuntu0.1

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS:
  libxfont1                       1:1.4.7-1ubuntu0.2

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS:
  libxfont1                       1:1.4.4-1ubuntu0.3

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS:
  libxfont1                       1:1.4.1-1ubuntu0.4

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make
all the necessary changes.