Updated perl packages that fix a security flaw are now available.
Perl is a high-level programming language commonly used for system administration utilities and Web programming.
2. Relevant releases/architectures:
Red Hat Linux 9 - i386 Fedora Core 1 - i386 Fedora Core 2 - i386
3. Problem description:
An integer overflow bug was found in Perl's format string processor. It is possible for an attacker to cause perl to crash or execute arbitrary code if the attacker is able to process a malicious format string. This issue is only exploitable through a script which passes arbitrary untrusted strings to the format string processor. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project assigned the name CVE-2005-3962 to this issue.
Note that this vulnerability do not affect perl packages in Red Hat Linux 7.3
Users of perl are advised to upgrade to these packages which contain a backported patch and are not vulnerable to this issue.
4. Solution:
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied.
To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:
rpm -Fvh [filenames]
where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade. Only those RPMs which are currently installed will be updated. Those RPMs which are not installed but included in the list will not be updated. Note that you can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the desired RPMs.
Please note that this update is also available via yum and apt. Many people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use yum issue:
yum update
or to use apt:
apt-get update; apt-get upgrade
This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate RPMs being upgraded on your system. This assumes that you have yum or apt-get configured for obtaining Fedora Legacy content. Please visit http://www.fedoralegacy.org/docs for directions on how to configure yum and apt-get.