New set of Linux security flaws unveiled

InfoWorld | at | by Mike

A security researcher has uncovered yet another set of security flaws in an image component, which could put Linux users at risk of system compromise if they view a maliciously crafted image. The bugs, in the imlib image library found in most Linux systems, haven't been patched by the library's developer.

Researcher Pavel Kankovsky found that several integer overflows in image decoding routines could be exploited to cause buffer overflows and potentially execute malicious code on a user's system, according to advisories from Suse, Gentoo and independent security firm Secunia. The bugs can be exploited by tricking a user into viewing a specially crafted image in one of the many applications linked to imlib.