USN-3143-1: c-ares vulnerability

30 November 2016

c-ares could be made to crash or run programs if it processed a specially crafted hostname.

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Releases

Packages

  • c-ares - library for asynchronous name resolves

Details

Gzob Qq discovered that c-ares incorrectly handled certain hostnames. A
remote attacker could use this issue to cause applications using c-ares to
crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary
code.

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.

Learn more about Ubuntu Pro

Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 16.10
Ubuntu 16.04
Ubuntu 14.04
Ubuntu 12.04

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

References

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Further reading