6.4 - RHSA-2011:0554

Problem Description:

Updated python packages that fix three security issues, several bugs, and add various enhancements are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderate security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores, which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability from the CVE links in the References section.

2. Relevant releases/architectures:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) - i386, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) - i386, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) - x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) - x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) - i386, noarch, ppc64, s390x, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) - i386, ppc64, s390x, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) - i386, noarch, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

3. Description:

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.

4. Solution:

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

5. Bugs fixed (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/):

603073 - python >>> help() >>> modules command traceback when used without DISPLAY 614680 - Try to print repr() when a fatal garbage collection assertion fails 625393 - adjust test_commands unit test to the updated output of the ls command 625395 - include the tests/data directory in the python-test rpm 626756 - test_dbm fails on ppc64 & s390x 627301 - Rebase python from 2.6.5 to 2.6.6 in RHEL 6.1 632200 - CVE-2010-3493 Python: SMTP proxy RFC 2821 module DoS (uncaught exception) (Issue #9129) 634944 - rpmlint errors and warnings 639392 - Generating python backtrace with "py-bt" fails with a traceback 649274 - Infinite recursion in urllib2 on basicauth failure 650588 - subprocess fails in select when descriptors are large (rhel6) 669847 - urllib2's AbstractBasicAuthHandler is limited to 6 requests 680094 - CVE-2011-1015 python (CGIHTTPServer): CGI script source code disclosure 684991 - python update causes rhythmbox to crash 690315 - python occasionally fails to build on machines with more than one core 690560 - CVE-2011-1521 python (urllib, urllib2): Improper management of ftp:// and file:// URL schemes (Issue #11662)