Advisory Published

USN-4171-1: Apport vulnerabilities

First published: Wed Oct 30 2019(Updated: )

Kevin Backhouse discovered Apport would read its user-controlled settings file as the root user. This could be used by a local attacker to possibly crash Apport or have other unspecified consequences. (CVE-2019-11481) Sander Bos discovered a race-condition in Apport during core dump creation. This could be used by a local attacker to generate a crash report for a privileged process that is readable by an unprivileged user. (CVE-2019-11482) Sander Bos discovered Apport mishandled crash dumps originating from containers. This could be used by a local attacker to generate a crash report for a privileged process that is readable by an unprivileged user. (CVE-2019-11483) Sander Bos discovered Apport mishandled lock-file creation. This could be used by a local attacker to cause a denial of service against Apport. (CVE-2019-11485) Kevin Backhouse discovered Apport read various process-specific files with elevated privileges during crash dump generation. This could could be used by a local attacker to generate a crash report for a privileged process that is readable by an unprivileged user. (CVE-2019-15790)

Affected SoftwareAffected VersionHow to fix
All of
ubuntu/apport<2.20.11-0ubuntu8.1
2.20.11-0ubuntu8.1
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=19.10
All of
ubuntu/python-apport<2.20.11-0ubuntu8.1
2.20.11-0ubuntu8.1
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=19.10
All of
ubuntu/python3-apport<2.20.11-0ubuntu8.1
2.20.11-0ubuntu8.1
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=19.10
All of
ubuntu/apport<2.20.10-0ubuntu27.2
2.20.10-0ubuntu27.2
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=19.04
All of
ubuntu/python-apport<2.20.10-0ubuntu27.2
2.20.10-0ubuntu27.2
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=19.04
All of
ubuntu/python3-apport<2.20.10-0ubuntu27.2
2.20.10-0ubuntu27.2
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=19.04
All of
ubuntu/apport<2.20.9-0ubuntu7.8
2.20.9-0ubuntu7.8
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=18.04
All of
ubuntu/python-apport<2.20.9-0ubuntu7.8
2.20.9-0ubuntu7.8
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=18.04
All of
ubuntu/python3-apport<2.20.9-0ubuntu7.8
2.20.9-0ubuntu7.8
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=18.04
All of
ubuntu/apport<2.20.1-0ubuntu2.20
2.20.1-0ubuntu2.20
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=16.04
All of
ubuntu/python-apport<2.20.1-0ubuntu2.20
2.20.1-0ubuntu2.20
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=16.04
All of
ubuntu/python3-apport<2.20.1-0ubuntu2.20
2.20.1-0ubuntu2.20
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=16.04

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Reference Links

Child vulnerabilities

(Contains the following vulnerabilities)

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is the severity of USN-4171-1?

    The severity of USN-4171-1 is moderate as it addresses vulnerabilities potentially exploitable by local attackers to cause crashes or other unspecified issues.

  • How do I fix USN-4171-1?

    To fix USN-4171-1, update the apport package to version 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.1 or later as specified in the security notice.

  • Who discovered the vulnerabilities in USN-4171-1?

    The vulnerabilities in USN-4171-1 were discovered by Kevin Backhouse and Sander Bos.

  • What versions of Ubuntu are affected by USN-4171-1?

    Ubuntu versions 16.04, 18.04, 19.04, and 19.10 are affected by USN-4171-1.

  • What is the impact of the vulnerabilities in USN-4171-1?

    The vulnerabilities in USN-4171-1 could allow a local attacker to execute a race condition potentially leading to crashes in the Apport application.

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