Arch Linux Security Advisory ASA-201703-18

Severity: High
Date : 2017-03-21
CVE-ID : CVE-2017-2640
Package : libpurple
Type : arbitrary code execution
Remote : Yes
Link : https://security.archlinux.org/AVG-226

Summary

The package libpurple before version 2.12.0-1 is vulnerable to
arbitrary code execution.

Resolution

Upgrade to 2.12.0-1.

pacman -Syu “libpurple>=2.12.0-1”

The problem has been fixed upstream in version 2.12.0.

Workaround

None.

Description

An out-of-bounds write has been found in libpurple < 2.12.0 in the
purple_markup_unescape_entity function. This issue can be triggered by
a malicious server sending invalid XML entities separated by
whitespace, eg “ஸ” to the client.

Impact

A remote attacker is able to execute arbitrary code on the affected
host if it connects to a malicious server.

References

http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2017/Mar/57
https://www.pidgin.im/news/security/?id=109
https://bitbucket.org/pidgin/main/commits/b2fc9e774cb9
https://security.archlinux.org/CVE-2017-2640