Tracked as CVE-2019-3462, the software bug could be exploited by hackers able to perform network man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks to inject content and have it executed on the target machine with root privileges. Malicious package mirrors can also exploit the bug.

“The code handling HTTP redirects in the HTTP transport method doesn’t properly sanitize fields transmitted over the wire. This vulnerability could be used by an attacker located as a man-in-the-middle between APT and a mirror to inject malicious content in the HTTP connection,” a Debian Security Advisory detailing the vulnerability reads.