Vulnerability Database

383,304

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2025-6966 — ubuntu / python-apt

NULL Pointer Dereference

NULL pointer dereference in TagSection.keys() in python-apt on APT-based Linux systems allows a local attacker to cause a denial of service (process crash) via a crafted deb822 file with a malformed non-UTF-8 key.

  • Published: Dec 5, 2025
  • Updated: Sep 13, 2026
  • CVE: CVE-2025-6966
  • Severity: Medium
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Medium
  • Score: 5.5
  • AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWEs:

Software Affected versions
ubuntu / python-apt < 0.9.3.11
ubuntu / python-apt >= 1.6.0, < 1.6.6
ubuntu / python-apt >= 2.0.0, < 2.0.1
ubuntu / python-apt >= 2.7.0, < 2.7.7
ubuntu / python-apt = 0.9.3.5-ubuntu1
ubuntu / python-apt = 0.9.3.5-ubuntu2
ubuntu / python-apt = 0.9.3.11
ubuntu / python-apt = 0.9.3.11-build1
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1build1
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1ubuntu0.16.04.1
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1ubuntu0.16.04.10
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1ubuntu0.16.04.11
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1ubuntu0.16.04.2
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1ubuntu0.16.04.3
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1ubuntu0.16.04.4
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1ubuntu0.16.04.5
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1ubuntu0.16.04.7
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1ubuntu0.16.04.8
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta1ubuntu0.16.04.9
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta2ubuntu1
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta3
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta4
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta4ubuntu1
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta5
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.1.0-beta5ubuntu1
ubuntu / python-apt = 1.6.6
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.0.1
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.4.0-+22.10
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.4.0
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.4.0-ubuntu1
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.4.0-ubuntu2
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.4.0-ubuntu3
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.4.0-ubuntu4
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.7.7
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.7.7-build1
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.7.7-ubuntu1
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.7.7-ubuntu2
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.7.7-ubuntu3
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.7.7-ubuntu4
ubuntu / python-apt = 2.7.7-ubuntu5
ubuntu / python-apt = 3.0.0
ubuntu / python-apt = 3.0.0-ubuntu1
debian / debian_linux = 11.0

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.