=========================================================================Ubuntu Security Notice USN-3157-1
December 14, 2016
apport vulnerabilities
=========================================================================
A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:
- Ubuntu 16.10
- Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
- Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
- Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Summary:
Apport could be made to run programs as your login if it opened a
specially crafted file.
Software Description:
- apport: automatically generate crash reports for debugging
Details:
Donncha O Cearbhaill discovered that the crash file parser in Apport
improperly treated the CrashDB field as python code. An attacker could
use this to convince a user to open a maliciously crafted crash file
and execute arbitrary code with the privileges of that user. This issue
only affected Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. (CVE-2016-9949)
Donncha O Cearbhaill discovered that Apport did not properly sanitize the
Package and SourcePackage fields in crash files before processing package
specific hooks. An attacker could use this to convince a user to open a
maliciously crafted crash file and execute arbitrary code with the
privileges of that user. (CVE-2016-9950)
Donncha O Cearbhaill discovered that Apport would offer to restart an
application based on the contents of the RespawnCommand or ProcCmdline
fields in a crash file. An attacker could use this to convince a user to
open a maliciously crafted crash file and execute arbitrary code with the
privileges of that user. (CVE-2016-9951)
Update instructions:
The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following
package versions:
Ubuntu 16.10:
apport 2.20.3-0ubuntu8.2
apport-gtk 2.20.3-0ubuntu8.2
apport-kde 2.20.3-0ubuntu8.2
python-apport 2.20.3-0ubuntu8.2
python3-apport 2.20.3-0ubuntu8.2
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS:
apport 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4
apport-gtk 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4
apport-kde 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4
python-apport 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4
python3-apport 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS:
apport 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.23
apport-gtk 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.23
apport-kde 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.23
python-apport 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.23
python3-apport 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.23
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS:
apport 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.15
apport-gtk 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.15
apport-kde 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.15
python-apport 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.15
In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.
References:
https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-3157-1
CVE-2016-9949, CVE-2016-9950, CVE-2016-9951
Package Information:
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apport/2.20.3-0ubuntu8.2
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apport/2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apport/2.14.1-0ubuntu3.23
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apport/2.0.1-0ubuntu17.15
