'Ghost' flaws poses high risk to Linux distributions
A fault in a widely used component of most Linux distributions could allow an attacker to take remote control of a system after merely sending a malicious email.
The vulnerability, nicknamed "Ghost," is in the GNU C Library known as glibc, according to security vendor Qualys, which disclosed the issue on Tuesday as many Linux distributions released patches. Glibc is a C library that defines system calls.
Red Hat, Debian, Ubuntu and Novell have issued fixes. It is advised administrators should patch as soon as possible. The bug first appeared in glibc in 2000. It actually was fixed on May 21, 2013, in between versions 2.17 and 2.18, Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek wrote in a blog post.
