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I just read here that there is security bug in glibc and that it is already fixed.

I found out, that the actual installed version of glibc can be shown by ldd --version. My systems runs version 2.19.

So I want now to upgrade it but I don't know how to do so. (I don't want to upgrade the whole system). I tried to find out which package contains glibc with apt-cache search glibc. But there are hundred of packages...

So does anybody know how to find out the package which I need to upgrade to get the new version of glibc?

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    did you try sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade ?
    – j0h
    Feb 18, 2016 at 12:09
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    Of course I know these automatically updates. But as I described in my question, I am searching for a way to find out which package includes glibc and needs to be upgraded.
    – eDeviser
    Feb 18, 2016 at 14:01
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    glibc is the package. you could look at apt-cache search glibc then see glibc-source, and do apt-cache policy glibc-source which would tell your upgrade candidate version. Alternatively, you might mean libc6.
    – j0h
    Feb 18, 2016 at 15:51

2 Answers 2

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As j0h described, I was able to solve my problem. Here is what I have done:

  1. I read at Wikipedia about glibc. Glibc (better known as GNU C Library) has a fork for linux which is called libc6. Libc6 is available via apt.
  2. Run apt-get update to update the database.
  3. Use apt-cache policy libc6 to find out the installed version and the candidate version, whereas the installed version can be also shown with ldd --version.
  4. Install the new candidate version with apt-get install libc6
  5. Check the new version again by doing step 3 again to see your success.
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    if my candidate is the same as my current would that mean to move further beyond my glibc version it would necessitate an upgrading to ubuntu as a whole?
    – jxramos
    Jan 23, 2020 at 21:27
  • @jxramos Yes this could be. Which version of Ubuntu are you running and did you perform the step number two?
    – eDeviser
    Jan 24, 2020 at 22:42
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For most security updates such as this you should be able to rest easy knowing that if your version of Ubuntu is still actively supported you will automatically receive such important updates.

Check in 'Software & Updates' that you have the correct boxes checked to:

  1. Enable you to receive Security Updates
  2. Allow regular checking of the Repository
  3. Optionally automatically download and install Security Updates

Below is a screenshot showing you the relevant section of 'Software & Updates':

enter image description here

This screenshot is for Ubuntu 15.1 Wily Werewolf but will be the same through most modern releases of Ubuntu...

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