(RHSA-2011:0554) Moderate: python security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming
language.

A flaw was found in the Python urllib and urllib2 libraries where they
would not differentiate between different target URLs when handling
automatic redirects. This caused Python applications using these modules to
follow any new URL that they understood, including the “file://” URL type.
This could allow a remote server to force a local Python application to
read a local file instead of the remote one, possibly exposing local files
that were not meant to be exposed. (CVE-2011-1521)

A race condition was found in the way the Python smtpd module handled new
connections. A remote user could use this flaw to cause a Python script
using the smtpd module to terminate. (CVE-2010-3493)

An information disclosure flaw was found in the way the Python
CGIHTTPServer module processed certain HTTP GET requests. A remote attacker
could use a specially-crafted request to obtain the CGI script’s source
code. (CVE-2011-1015)

This erratum also upgrades Python to upstream version 2.6.6, and includes a
number of bug fixes and enhancements. Documentation for these bug fixes
and enhancements is available from the Technical Notes document, linked to
in the References section.

All users of Python are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which
correct these issues, and fix the bugs and add the enhancements noted in
the Technical Notes.