Serious Ubuntu Linux desktop bugs found and fixed

If you, like me, use Ubuntu desktop, or one of its relatives such as Linux Mint, you have a bug to patch.

Donncha O’Cearbhaill, an Irish security researcher, found a remote execution bug in Ubuntu. This security hole, which first appeared in Ubuntu 12.10, makes it possible for malicious code to be injected into your system when you open a booby-trapped file. This can be used to crash your system or run malware. It does not — a small blessing — enable attackers to become the root user.