CVE-2015-1781

Publication date 28 September 2015

Last updated 24 July 2024

Ubuntu priority

Low

Why this priority?

Buffer overflow in the gethostbyname_r and other unspecified NSS functions in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) before 2.22 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or execute arbitrary code via a crafted DNS response, which triggers a call with a misaligned buffer.

From the Ubuntu Security Team

Arjun Shankar discovered that in certain situations the nss_dns code in the GNU C Library did not properly account buffer sizes when passed an unaligned buffer. An attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code.

Read the notes from the security team

Status

Package Ubuntu Release Status
eglibc 17.04 zesty Not in release
16.10 yakkety Not in release
16.04 LTS xenial Not in release
15.10 wily Not in release
15.04 vivid Not in release
14.10 utopic Not in release
14.04 LTS trusty
Fixed 2.19-0ubuntu6.8
12.04 LTS precise
Fixed 2.15-0ubuntu10.14
10.04 LTS lucid Ignored end of life
glibc 17.04 zesty
Not affected
16.10 yakkety
Not affected
16.04 LTS xenial
Not affected
15.10 wily
Fixed 2.21-0ubuntu4.2
15.04 vivid Ignored end of life
14.10 utopic Ignored end of life
14.04 LTS trusty Not in release
12.04 LTS precise Not in release
10.04 LTS lucid Not in release

Notes

sbeattie

only happens if gethostbyname_r etc functions are called with a misaligned buffer, which according to upstream in practice does not happen often

Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. How can I get the fixes?

Package Patch details
glibc

References

Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)

    • USN-2985-1
    • GNU C Library vulnerabilities
    • 25 May 2016

Other references