Detections
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Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS : YARA vulnerabilities (USN-8080-1)

critical Nessus Plugin ID 301679

Synopsis

The remote Ubuntu host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

The remote Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-8080-1 advisory.

 Kamil Frankowicz discovered that a number of YARA's functions generated memory exceptions when processing specially crafted rules or files. A remote attacker could possibly use these issues to cause YARA to crash, resulting in a denial of service. These issues only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. (CVE-2016-10211, CVE-2017-5923, CVE-2017-5924, CVE-2017-8294, CVE-2017-8929, CVE-2017-9304, CVE-2017-9438, CVE-2017-9465)

 Jurriaan Bremer discovered that YARA's yr_object_array_set_limit() function could result in a heap buffer overflow when scanning specially crafted .NET files. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause YARA to crash, resulting in a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
 (CVE-2017-11328)

 It was discovered that YARA's yr_execute_code() function could cause an out-of-bounds read or write when parsing specially crafted compiled rule files. A remote attacker could possibly use these issues to cause YARA to crash, resulting in a denial of service. These issues only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. (CVE-2018-12034, CVE-2018-12035)

 It was discovered that YARA's virtual machine could be escaped in certain instances. A remote attacker could possibly use these issues to execute arbitrary code. These issues only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. (CVE-2018-19974, CVE-2018-19975, CVE-2018-19976)

 It was discovered that YARA's macho_parse_file() function would generate an out-of-bounds memory access error when parsing a specially crafted Mach-O file. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause YARA to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. (CVE-2019-19648)

 It was discovered that YARA's macho.c implementation contained several overflow reads, which could be triggered when parsing specially crafted Mach-O files. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause YARA to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or to learn sensitive information. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. (CVE-2021-3402)

 It was discovered that YARA's yr_set_configuration() function could trigger a buffer overflow when parsing specially crafted rules. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause YARA to crash, resulting in a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. (CVE-2021-45429)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Update the affected packages.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8080-1

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 301679

File Name: ubuntu_USN-8080-1.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 3/10/2026

Updated: 3/10/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.1

Temporal Score: 5.6

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2018-19975

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.1

Temporal Score: 8.2

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2021-3402

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:python-yara, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:python3-yara, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:yara, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:libyara-dev, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:libyara3

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/Debian/dpkg-l, Host/Ubuntu, Host/Ubuntu/release

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 3/9/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 4/3/2017

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2016-10211, CVE-2017-11328, CVE-2017-5923, CVE-2017-5924, CVE-2017-8294, CVE-2017-8929, CVE-2017-9304, CVE-2017-9438, CVE-2017-9465, CVE-2018-12034, CVE-2018-12035, CVE-2018-19974, CVE-2018-19975, CVE-2018-19976, CVE-2019-19648, CVE-2021-3402, CVE-2021-45429

USN: 8080-1