Android and Ubuntu get security fixes: Patch Tuesday - Week 1, February 2019

As people across the world celebrated the Safer Internet Day this Tuesday, several software companies released security updates. Android and Ubuntu both received fixes for many security vulnerabilities.

Microsoft

Microsoft Authenticator app received a major update. The latest version alerts users of unusual activities concerning security on their Microsoft account (MSA) such as changing passwords, adding phone numbers or logging into new devices.

Microsoft Exchange Server (Versions - 2010,2013,2016,2019) got a patch for privilege escalation vulnerability. This flaw could have allowed attackers to impersonate Exchange users through MITM.

Google

In its February Android Security Bulletin, Google fixed many high-priority vulnerabilities in the Android OS. Among these, one RCE flaw which could be exploited through a PNG file was deemed very critical.

The two update bundles released over the week which pertain to vulnerabilities in various Android components are as follows:

• 2019-02-01 Security Patch details: This accounted for 15 vulnerabilities categorized under the framework, library, and system vulnerabilities. Out of the 15 vulnerabilities, 8 were RCE bugs, 4 were related to information disclosure, two were privilege escalation flaws and one was DoS.
• 2019-02-05 Security Patch details: This accounted for 27 vulnerabilities present across components of NVidia, Qualcomm, as well as from the kernel. Only one among them was an RCE bug which was rated critical.

The updates are available for all the latest Android-powered devices (Android 7 and later)

HP

A security vulnerability in underlying Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Software that allowed escalation of privilege has been resolved. The update is available for 94 HP products.

Tableau

The company made 2 security update announcements. The first one was concerning CVEs affecting ICU library from workbooks and data sources. The second one was about the Tableau servers where log files revealed sensitive information. Both are resolved in the latest version of Tableau.

LibreOffice

The popular free office suite patched a major security vulnerability which allowed attackers to run Python scripts in any file system location. The version 6.1.3 has restricted access in scripts under the share/Scripts/python, user/Scripts/python sub-directories of the LibreOffice install.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu published seven major notices regarding security vulnerabilities and patch releases for its products.

1. USN-3880-2: Linux kernel (Trusty HWE) vulnerabilities: Fixes four flaws found in Linux Kernel for Ubuntu 12.04 ESM.
2. USN-3880-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Fixes four flaws found in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.
3. USN-3871-3: Linux kernel (AWS, GCP, KVM, OEM, Raspberry Pi 2) vulnerabilities: Fixes 11 flaws with respect to kernel implementations found in these devices running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
4. USN-3879-2: Linux kernel (Xenial HWE) vulnerabilities: Patches six flaws found in AWS and Xenial systems running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.
5. USN-3879-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Fixes five flaws found in AWS, Raspberry Pi 2 and Snapdragon processors running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
6. USN-3871-4: Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities: Fixes 12 flaws found in AWS and GCP systems running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
7. USN-3878-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Fixes four flaws found in AWS, GCP, Raspberry Pi 2 environments running Ubuntu 18.10.

Xerox

The company released updates to address two security flaws in its WorkCentre products (7525/7530/7535/7545/7556). The update resolves DoS vulnerability and missing security headers in HTTP.