(RHSA-2017:1162) Moderate: python27 security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language that supports modules, classes, exceptions, high-level dynamic data types, and dynamic typing. The python27 packages provide a stable release of Python 2.7 with a number of additional utilities and database connectors for MySQL and PostgreSQL.

The python27 Software Collection has been upgraded to version 2.7.13, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version. For detailed changes, see the Red Hat Software Collections 2.4 Release Notes linked from the References section. (BZ#1402809, BZ#1344674, BZ#1413063)

Security Fix(es) in the python27-python component:

• The Python standard library HTTP client modules (such as httplib or urllib) did not perform verification of TLS/SSL certificates when connecting to HTTPS servers. A man-in-the-middle attacker could use this flaw to hijack connections and eavesdrop or modify transferred data. (CVE-2014-9365)

Note: The Python standard library was updated to enable certificate verification by default. Refer to the Knowledgebase article 2039753 linked to in the References section for further details about this change. (BZ#1417838)