Synopsis

Moderate: python security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Moderate

Topic

Updated python packages that fix one security issue, several bugs, and add
one enhancement are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderate
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

Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming
language.

A flaw was found in the way the Python SSL module handled X.509 certificate
fields that contain a NULL byte. An attacker could potentially exploit this
flaw to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks to spoof SSL servers. Note that
to exploit this issue, an attacker would need to obtain a carefully crafted
certificate signed by an authority that the client trusts. (CVE-2013-4238)

These updated python packages include numerous bug fixes and one
enhancement. Space precludes documenting all of these changes in this
advisory. Users are directed to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 Technical
Notes, linked to in the References, for information on the most significant
of these changes.

All users of python are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which
fix these issues and add this enhancement.

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/site/articles/11258

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 IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• 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 (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 521898 - Fix instances of #!/usr/bin/env python in python-tools
• BZ - 841937 - RHEL 6 installation fails when Turkish language is selected
• BZ - 845802 - python prepends UTF-8 BOM syslog messages - causes messages to be treated a EMERG level
• BZ - 893034 - yum traceback with python-2.6.6-29.el6_2.2 and higher + missing /dev/urandom
• BZ - 919163 - python logging problem - when rotating to new log file, logger checks file's stat when the file does not exist
• BZ - 928390 - Python SSLSocket.getpeercert() incorrectly returns an empty Subject Alternative Name from peer certificate.
• BZ - 948025 - SocketServer doesn't handle syscall interruption
• BZ - 958868 - Downstream added "timeout=None" keyword argument causes regression in eventlet
• BZ - 960168 - failed incoming SSL connection stays open
• BZ - 978129 - Please consider to backport patch: issue9374 urlparse should parse query and fragment for arbitrary schemes
• BZ - 996381 - CVE-2013-4238 python: hostname check bypassing vulnerability in SSL module

CVEs

• CVE-2013-4238

References