DSA-2892-1 a2ps -- security update

Related Vulnerabilities: CVE-2001-1593   CVE-2014-0466  

Several vulnerabilities have been found in a2ps, an Anything to PostScript converter and pretty-printer. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project identifies the following problems: CVE-2001-1593 The spy_user function which is called when a2ps is invoked with the --debug flag insecurely used temporary files. CVE-2014-0466 Brian M. Carlson reported that a2ps's fixps script does not invoke gs with the -dSAFER option. Consequently executing fixps on a malicious PostScript file could result in files being deleted or arbitrary commands being executed with the privileges of the user running fixps. For the oldstable distribution (squeeze), these problems have been fixed in version 1:4.14-1.1+deb6u1. For the stable distribution (wheezy), these problems have been fixed in version 1:4.14-1.1+deb7u1. For the testing distribution (jessie) and the unstable distribution (sid), these problems will be fixed soon. We recommend that you upgrade your a2ps packages.

Debian Security Advisory

DSA-2892-1 a2ps -- security update

Date Reported:
31 Mar 2014
Affected Packages:
a2ps
Vulnerable:
Yes
Security database references:
In the Debian bugtracking system: Bug 737385, Bug 742902.
In Mitre's CVE dictionary: CVE-2001-1593, CVE-2014-0466.
More information:

Several vulnerabilities have been found in a2ps, an Anything to PostScript converter and pretty-printer. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project identifies the following problems:

  • CVE-2001-1593

    The spy_user function which is called when a2ps is invoked with the --debug flag insecurely used temporary files.

  • CVE-2014-0466

    Brian M. Carlson reported that a2ps's fixps script does not invoke gs with the -dSAFER option. Consequently executing fixps on a malicious PostScript file could result in files being deleted or arbitrary commands being executed with the privileges of the user running fixps.

For the oldstable distribution (squeeze), these problems have been fixed in version 1:4.14-1.1+deb6u1.

For the stable distribution (wheezy), these problems have been fixed in version 1:4.14-1.1+deb7u1.

For the testing distribution (jessie) and the unstable distribution (sid), these problems will be fixed soon.

We recommend that you upgrade your a2ps packages.