xpdf and kpdf did not sufficiently verify the validity of the “loca” table in PDF files, a table that contains glyph description information for embedded TrueType fonts. After detecting the broken table, xpdf attempted to reconstruct the information in it, which caused the generation of a huge temporary file that quickly filled up available disk space and rendered the application unresponsive.
The CUPS printing system in Ubuntu 5.04 uses the xpdf-utils package to convert PDF files to PostScript. By attempting to print such a crafted PDF file, a remote attacker could cause a Denial of Service in a print server. The CUPS system in Ubuntu 4.10 is not vulnerable against this attack.
10 August 2005
A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:
xpdf and kpdf did not sufficiently verify the validity of the “loca” table in PDF files, a table that contains glyph description information for embedded TrueType fonts. After detecting the broken table, xpdf attempted to reconstruct the information in it, which caused the generation of a huge temporary file that quickly filled up available disk space and rendered the application unresponsive.
The CUPS printing system in Ubuntu 5.04 uses the xpdf-utils package to convert PDF files to PostScript. By attempting to print such a crafted PDF file, a remote attacker could cause a Denial of Service in a print server. The CUPS system in Ubuntu 4.10 is not vulnerable against this attack.
The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:
To update your system, please follow these instructions: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Upgrades.
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