DSA-2534-1 postgresql-8.4 -- several vulnerabilities

Related Vulnerabilities: CVE-2012-3488   CVE-2012-3489  

Two vulnerabilities related to XML processing were discovered in PostgreSQL, an SQL database. CVE-2012-3488 contrib/xml2's xslt_process() can be used to read and write external files and URLs. CVE-2012-3489 xml_parse() fetches external files or URLs to resolve DTD and entity references in XML values. This update removes the problematic functionality, potentially breaking applications which use it in a legitimate way. Due to the nature of these vulnerabilities, it is possible that attackers who have only indirect access to the database can supply crafted XML data which exploits this vulnerability. For the stable distribution (squeeze), these problems have been fixed in version 8.4.13-0squeeze1. For the unstable distribution (sid), these problems have been fixed in version 9.1.5-1 of the postgresql-9.1 package. We recommend that you upgrade your postgresql-8.4 packages.

Debian Security Advisory

DSA-2534-1 postgresql-8.4 -- several vulnerabilities

Date Reported:
25 Aug 2012
Affected Packages:
postgresql-8.4
Vulnerable:
Yes
Security database references:
In Mitre's CVE dictionary: CVE-2012-3488, CVE-2012-3489.
More information:

Two vulnerabilities related to XML processing were discovered in PostgreSQL, an SQL database.

  • CVE-2012-3488

    contrib/xml2's xslt_process() can be used to read and write external files and URLs.

  • CVE-2012-3489

    xml_parse() fetches external files or URLs to resolve DTD and entity references in XML values.

This update removes the problematic functionality, potentially breaking applications which use it in a legitimate way.

Due to the nature of these vulnerabilities, it is possible that attackers who have only indirect access to the database can supply crafted XML data which exploits this vulnerability.

For the stable distribution (squeeze), these problems have been fixed in version 8.4.13-0squeeze1.

For the unstable distribution (sid), these problems have been fixed in version 9.1.5-1 of the postgresql-9.1 package.

We recommend that you upgrade your postgresql-8.4 packages.