R: Multiple vulnerabilities — GLSA 200801-02

Multiple vulnerabilities in R could result in the execution of arbitrary code.

Affected packages

Package 	dev-lang/R on all architectures
Affected versions 	< 2.2.1-r1
Unaffected versions 	>= 2.2.1-r1

Background

R is a GPL licensed implementation of S, a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. PCRE is a library providing functions for Perl-compatible regular expressions.

Description

R includes a copy of PCRE which is vulnerable to multiple buffer overflows and memory corruptions vulnerabilities (GLSA 200711-30).

Impact

An attacker could entice a user to process specially crafted regular expressions with R, which could possibly lead to the execution of arbitrary code, a Denial of Service or the disclosure of sensitive information.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All R users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-lang/R-2.2.1-r1"

References

    GLSA 200711-30