python-apt vulnerabilities

Related Vulnerabilities: CVE-2019-15795   CVE-2019-15796  

Several security issues were fixed in python-apt.

It was discovered that python-apt would still use MD5 hashes to validate certain downloaded packages. If a remote attacker were able to perform a man-in-the-middle attack, this flaw could potentially be used to install altered packages. (CVE-2019-15795)

22 January 2020

python-apt vulnerabilities

A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:

  • Ubuntu 19.10
  • Ubuntu 19.04
  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Summary

Several security issues were fixed in python-apt.

Software Description

  • python-apt - Python interface to libapt-pkg

Details

It was discovered that python-apt would still use MD5 hashes to validate certain downloaded packages. If a remote attacker were able to perform a man-in-the-middle attack, this flaw could potentially be used to install altered packages. (CVE-2019-15795)

It was discovered that python-apt could install packages from untrusted repositories, contrary to expectations. (CVE-2019-15796)

Update instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu 19.10
python-apt - 1.9.0ubuntu1.2
python3-apt - 1.9.0ubuntu1.2
Ubuntu 19.04
python-apt - 1.8.5~ubuntu0.2
python3-apt - 1.8.5~ubuntu0.2
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
python-apt - 1.6.5ubuntu0.1
python3-apt - 1.6.5ubuntu0.1
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
python-apt - 1.1.0~beta1ubuntu0.16.04.7
python3-apt - 1.1.0~beta1ubuntu0.16.04.7

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.

References