'Ghost' flaws poses high risk to Linux distributions

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2875780/ghost-flaws-poses-high-risk-to-linux-distributions.html

By Jeremy Kirk
IDG News Service
Jan 27, 2015

A fault in a widely used component of most Linux distributions could allow 
an attacker to take remote control of a system after merely sending a 
malicious email.

The vulnerability, nicknamed "Ghost," is in the GNU C Library known as 
glibc, according to security vendor Qualys, which disclosed the issue on 
Tuesday as many Linux distributions released patches. Glibc is a C library 
that defines system calls.

Red Hat, Debian, Ubuntu and Novell have issued fixes. It is advised 
administrators should patch as soon as possible.

The bug first appeared in glibc in 2000. It actually was fixed on May 21, 
2013, in between versions 2.17 and 2.18, Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek wrote 
in a blog post.

[...]



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