GLSA-200509-08 : Python: Heap overflow in the included PCRE library
High Nessus Plugin ID 19687
Synopsis
The remote Gentoo host is missing one or more security-related patches.
Description
The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-200509-08 (Python: Heap overflow in the included PCRE library)
The 're' Python module makes use of a private copy of libpcre which is subject to an integer overflow leading to a heap overflow (see GLSA 200508-17).
Impact :
An attacker could target a Python-based web application (or SUID application) that would use untrusted data as regular expressions, potentially resulting in the execution of arbitrary code (or privilege escalation).
Workaround :
Python users that don't run any Python web application or SUID application (or that run one that wouldn't use untrusted inputs as regular expressions) are not affected by this issue.
Solution
All Python users should upgrade to the latest version:
# emerge --sync # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose '>=dev-lang/python-2.3.5-r2'