file: Denial of service — GLSA 201412-48

A vulnerability in file could allow a context-dependent attack to create a Denial of Service condition.

Affected packages

sys-apps/file on all architectures
Affected versions < 5.21
Unaffected versions >= 5.21

Background

The file utility attempts to identify a file’s format by scanning binary data for patterns.

Description

An issue with the ELF parser used by the file utility can cause a resource consumption when reading a specially-crafted ELF binary.

Impact

A context-dependent attacker may be able to cause Denial of Service.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All file users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=sys-apps/file-5.21"
 

References

Release date
December 27, 2014

Latest revision
December 27, 2014: 1

Severity
normal

Exploitable
local, remote

Bugzilla entries