Two GnuTLS Bugfix Releases
The GnuTLS project has published two bugfix releases to close several vulnerabilities and resolve an error capable of interrupting connections.
The developers closed down three security holes in the GnuTLS encryption library in version 2.2.4, however, the release introduced a new bug. According to security researchers Secunia, the vulnerabilities closed by the 2.2.4 release were extremely critical.
Attackers could exploit the three bugs to perform denial of service attacks: a sign error in the "_gnutls_ciphertext2compressed()" function, which is part of the "lib/gnutls_cipher.c" library, led to a read/write error capable of crashing applications affected by it. Two further errors occurred in "Client Hello" message processing – attackers could exploit the first error by injecting a manipulated "Server Name" extension to trigger a heap based buffer overflow which could then be exploited to execute arbitrary code. The second error was a null pointer dereference that could cause the application to crash. All of these vulnerabilities were confirmed for all GnuTLS versions prior to 2.2.4.
Version 2.2.5 published the same day removes errors introduced by the developers in 2.2.4, mainly a bug that caused interruptions to service.
The stable release and patches for older versions are available for downloading from various mirror servers. For more information on the vulnerabilities by the developers themselves, visit the GnuTLS website.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs Transitions to Linux
Another major organization has decided to kick Microsoft Windows and Office to the curb in favor of Linux.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.