Advisory Published

USN-4171-5: Apport regression

First published: Wed Mar 18 2020(Updated: )

USN-4171-1 fixed vulnerabilities in Apport. This caused a regression in autopkgtest and python2 compatibility. This update fixes the problem. We apologize for the inconvenience. Original advisory details: 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<2.20.11-0ubuntu8.6
2.20.11-0ubuntu8.6
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=19.10
All of
ubuntu/python-apport<2.20.11-0ubuntu8.6
2.20.11-0ubuntu8.6
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=19.10
All of
ubuntu/python3-apport<2.20.11-0ubuntu8.6
2.20.11-0ubuntu8.6
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=19.10
All of
ubuntu/apport<2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12
2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=18.04
All of
ubuntu/python-apport<2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12
2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=18.04
All of
ubuntu/python3-apport<2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12
2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=18.04
All of
ubuntu/apport<2.20.1-0ubuntu2.22
2.20.1-0ubuntu2.22
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=16.04
All of
ubuntu/python-apport<2.20.1-0ubuntu2.22
2.20.1-0ubuntu2.22
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=16.04
All of
ubuntu/python3-apport<2.20.1-0ubuntu2.22
2.20.1-0ubuntu2.22
Ubuntu OpenSSH Client=16.04

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • What does USN-4171-5 address?

    USN-4171-5 addresses a regression in autopkgtest and Python 2 compatibility after USN-4171-1 fixed vulnerabilities in Apport.

  • How do I fix the vulnerabilities identified in USN-4171-5?

    To fix the vulnerabilities described in USN-4171-5, you should upgrade the apport and python-apport packages to the recommended versions: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.6 for Ubuntu 19.10 and corresponding versions for other affected Ubuntu releases.

  • Which versions of Ubuntu are affected by USN-4171-5?

    USN-4171-5 affects Ubuntu 19.10, 18.04, and 16.04 with specific versions of the apport and python-apport packages.

  • What is the impact of the issues resolved by USN-4171-5?

    The issues resolved by USN-4171-5 could potentially lead to compatibility issues with automated testing on those systems.

  • Is there a workaround for the issues identified in USN-4171-5?

    Currently, there are no specific workarounds mentioned for the issues in USN-4171-5; updating the affected packages is recommended.

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