dpkg-deb could be made to crash or run programs as your login if it opened a specially crafted file.
Hanno Boeck discovered that the dpkg-deb tool incorrectly handled certain old style Debian binary packages. If a user or an automated system were tricked into unpacking a specially crafted binary package, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code.
26 November 2015
A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:
dpkg-deb could be made to crash or run programs as your login if it opened a specially crafted file.
Hanno Boeck discovered that the dpkg-deb tool incorrectly handled certain old style Debian binary packages. If a user or an automated system were tricked into unpacking a specially crafted binary package, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code.
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.
In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.
Vulmon