Advisory Published

USN-4170-1: Whoopsie vulnerability

First published: Wed Oct 30 2019(Updated: )

Kevin Backhouse discovered Whoopsie incorrectly handled very large crash reports. A local attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service, expose sensitive information or execute code as the whoopsie user.

Affected SoftwareAffected VersionHow to fix
All of
ubuntu/libwhoopsie0<0.2.66ubuntu0.1
0.2.66ubuntu0.1
Ubuntu=19.10
All of
ubuntu/whoopsie<0.2.66ubuntu0.1
0.2.66ubuntu0.1
Ubuntu=19.10
All of
ubuntu/libwhoopsie0<0.2.64ubuntu0.2
0.2.64ubuntu0.2
Ubuntu=19.04
All of
ubuntu/whoopsie<0.2.64ubuntu0.2
0.2.64ubuntu0.2
Ubuntu=19.04
All of
ubuntu/libwhoopsie0<0.2.62ubuntu0.2
0.2.62ubuntu0.2
Ubuntu=18.04
All of
ubuntu/whoopsie<0.2.62ubuntu0.2
0.2.62ubuntu0.2
Ubuntu=18.04
All of
ubuntu/libwhoopsie0<0.2.52.5ubuntu0.2
0.2.52.5ubuntu0.2
Ubuntu=16.04
All of
ubuntu/whoopsie<0.2.52.5ubuntu0.2
0.2.52.5ubuntu0.2
Ubuntu=16.04

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Reference Links

Child vulnerabilities

(Contains the following vulnerabilities)

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is the severity of USN-4170-1?

    The severity of USN-4170-1 is critical due to its potential for denial of service, information exposure, and arbitrary code execution.

  • How do I fix USN-4170-1?

    To fix USN-4170-1, upgrade the affected packages to the specified versions for your Ubuntu release.

  • What software is affected by USN-4170-1?

    USN-4170-1 affects Whoopsie, specifically the libwhoopsie0 and whoopsie packages on Ubuntu versions 16.04, 18.04, 19.04, and 19.10.

  • Who discovered the vulnerability identified by USN-4170-1?

    The vulnerability identified by USN-4170-1 was discovered by Kevin Backhouse.

  • What can an attacker do with the vulnerability in USN-4170-1?

    An attacker can exploit the vulnerability in USN-4170-1 to cause a denial of service, expose sensitive information, or execute code as the whoopsie user.

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