Issued:

2009-08-18

Updated:

2009-08-18

RHSA-2009:1218 - Critical: pidgin security update

Synopsis

Critical: pidgin security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Critical

Topic

Updated pidgin packages that fix a security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, and 5.

This update has been rated as having critical security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

Description

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

Federico Muttis of Core Security Technologies discovered a flaw in Pidgin's MSN protocol handler. If a user received a malicious MSN message, it was possible to execute arbitrary code with the permissions of the user running Pidgin. (CVE-2009-2694)

Note: Users can change their privacy settings to only allow messages from users on their buddy list to limit the impact of this flaw.

These packages upgrade Pidgin to version 2.5.9. Refer to the Pidgin release notes for a full list of changes: http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/ChangeLog

All Pidgin users should upgrade to these updated packages, which resolve this issue. Pidgin must be restarted for this update to take effect.

Solution

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

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

Updated Packages

• libpurple-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.ia64.rpm
• libpurple-perl-2.5.9-1.el5.i386.rpm
• libpurple-tcl-2.5.9-1.el4.x86_64.rpm
• finch-2.5.9-1.el4.ppc.rpm
• pidgin-perl-2.5.9-1.el4.ppc.rpm
• finch-2.5.9-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
• pidgin-devel-2.5.9-1.el5.i386.rpm
• libpurple-perl-2.5.9-1.el4.x86_64.rpm
• libpurple-perl-2.5.9-1.el4.i386.rpm
• pidgin-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.ia64.rpm
• libpurple-perl-2.5.9-1.el4.ppc.rpm
• libpurple-2.5.9-1.el4.i386.rpm
• libpurple-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.ppc.rpm
• pidgin-2.5.9-1.el4.x86_64.rpm
• pidgin-perl-2.5.9-1.el4.i386.rpm
• pidgin-2.5.9-1.el4.ia64.rpm
• libpurple-perl-2.5.9-1.el4.ia64.rpm
• libpurple-2.5.9-1.el4.ppc.rpm
• pidgin-2.5.9-1.el4.ppc.rpm
• libpurple-perl-2.5.9-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
• pidgin-perl-2.5.9-1.el5.i386.rpm
• pidgin-2.5.9-1.el4.i386.rpm
• pidgin-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.x86_64.rpm
• libpurple-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.x86_64.rpm
• finch-2.5.9-1.el4.x86_64.rpm
• pidgin-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.ppc.rpm
• libpurple-tcl-2.5.9-1.el4.ia64.rpm
• libpurple-devel-2.5.9-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
• libpurple-tcl-2.5.9-1.el4.i386.rpm
• pidgin-perl-2.5.9-1.el4.ia64.rpm
• pidgin-2.5.9-1.el4.src.rpm
• finch-2.5.9-1.el4.i386.rpm
• finch-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.ia64.rpm
• finch-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.ppc.rpm
• libpurple-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.i386.rpm
• libpurple-2.5.9-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
• pidgin-devel-2.5.9-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
• pidgin-2.5.9-1.el5.i386.rpm
• pidgin-perl-2.5.9-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
• finch-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.i386.rpm
• pidgin-2.5.9-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
• libpurple-devel-2.5.9-1.el5.i386.rpm
• finch-devel-2.5.9-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
• libpurple-tcl-2.5.9-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
• finch-2.5.9-1.el4.ia64.rpm
• pidgin-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.i386.rpm
• libpurple-2.5.9-1.el4.ia64.rpm
• libpurple-tcl-2.5.9-1.el4.ppc.rpm
• finch-2.5.9-1.el5.i386.rpm
• finch-devel-2.5.9-1.el5.i386.rpm
• pidgin-perl-2.5.9-1.el4.x86_64.rpm
• libpurple-2.5.9-1.el4.x86_64.rpm
• libpurple-2.5.9-1.el5.i386.rpm
• finch-devel-2.5.9-1.el4.x86_64.rpm
• pidgin-2.5.9-1.el5.src.rpm
• libpurple-tcl-2.5.9-1.el5.i386.rpm

Fixes

• This content is not included.BZ - 514957

CVEs

• CVE-2009-2694

References

• http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#critical

Additional information

• The Red Hat security contact is This content is not included.secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.
• Offline Security Data data is available for integration with other systems. See Offline Security Data API to get started.