CVE-2016-9949

Publication date 14 December 2016

Last updated 25 August 2025

Ubuntu priority

Cvss 3 Severity Score

Description

An issue was discovered in Apport before 2.20.4. In apport/ui.py, Apport reads the CrashDB field and it then evaluates the field as Python code if it begins with a "{". This allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary Python code.

From the Ubuntu Security Team

Donncha O Cearbhaill discovered that the crash file parser in Apport improperly treated the CrashDB field as python code. An attacker could use this to convince a user to open a maliciously crafted crash file and execute arbitrary code with the privileges of that user.

Read the notes from the security team

Status

Show unmaintained releases

Package	Ubuntu Release	Status
apport	17.04 zesty	Not affected
	16.10 yakkety	Fixed 2.20.3-0ubuntu8.2
	16.04 LTS xenial	Fixed 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.4
	14.04 LTS trusty	Fixed 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.23
	12.04 LTS precise	Not affected

Notes

sbeattie

precise not affected

Severity score breakdown

Parameter	Value
Base score	7.8 · High
Attack vector	Local
Attack complexity	Low
Privileges required	None
User interaction	Required
Scope	Unchanged
Confidentiality	High
Integrity impact	High
Availability impact	High
Vector	CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)

USN-3157-1
Apport vulnerabilities
14 December 2016