RHSA-2011:0616 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated pidgin packages that fix multiple security issues and various bugs
are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having low
security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score,
which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in
the References section.

Description

Pidgin is an instant messaging program which can log in to multiple
accounts on multiple instant messaging networks simultaneously.

Multiple NULL pointer dereference flaws were found in the way the Pidgin
Yahoo! Messenger Protocol plug-in handled malformed YMSG packets. A remote
attacker could use these flaws to crash Pidgin via a specially-crafted
notification message. (CVE-2011-1091)

Red Hat would like to thank the Pidgin project for reporting these issues.
Upstream acknowledges Marius Wachtler as the original reporter.

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• Previous versions of the pidgin package did not properly clear certain

data structures used in libpurple/cipher.c when attempting to free them.
Partial information could potentially be extracted from the incorrectly
cleared regions of the previously freed memory. With this update, data
structures are properly cleared when freed. (BZ#684685)

• This erratum upgrades Pidgin to upstream version 2.7.9. For a list of all

changes addressed in this upgrade, refer to
http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/ChangeLog (BZ#616917)

• Some incomplete translations for the kn_IN and ta_IN locales have been

corrected. (BZ#633860, BZ#640170)

Users of pidgin should upgrade to these updated packages, which resolve
these issues. Pidgin must be restarted for this update to take effect.

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

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 633860 - [kn_IN] Translation is not complete, untranslated message in Screenshot
• BZ - 640170 - [ta_IN] Translation need to review for "Add Account"
• BZ - 683031 - CVE-2011-1091 Pidgin: Multiple NULL pointer dereference flaws in Yahoo protocol plug-in
• BZ - 684685 - Cipher API information disclosure in pidgin

CVEs

• CVE-2011-1091
• CVE-2011-4922

References

• https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#low
• http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/ChangeLog