Debian Security Advisory

DSA-612-1 a2ps -- unsanitised input

Date Reported:
20 Dec 2004
Affected Packages:
a2ps
Vulnerable:
Yes
Security database references:
In the Debian bugtracking system: Bug 283134.
In the Bugtraq database (at SecurityFocus): BugTraq ID 11025.
In Mitre's CVE dictionary: CVE-2004-1170.
More information:

Rudolf Polzer discovered a vulnerability in a2ps, a converter and pretty-printer for many formats to PostScript. The program did not escape shell meta characters properly which could lead to the execution of arbitrary commands as a privileged user if a2ps is installed as a printer filter.

For the stable distribution (woody) this problem has been fixed in version 4.13b-16woody1.

For the unstable distribution (sid) this problem has been fixed in version 1:4.13b-4.2.

We recommend that you upgrade your a2ps package.

Fixed in:

Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (woody)

Source:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1.diff.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b.orig.tar.gz
Alpha:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_alpha.deb
ARM:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_arm.deb
Intel IA-32:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_i386.deb
Intel IA-64:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_ia64.deb
HPPA:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_hppa.deb
Motorola 680x0:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_m68k.deb
Big endian MIPS:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_mips.deb
Little endian MIPS:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_mipsel.deb
PowerPC:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_powerpc.deb
IBM S/390:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_s390.deb
Sun Sparc:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/a/a2ps/a2ps_4.13b-16woody1_sparc.deb

MD5 checksums of the listed files are available in the original advisory.