The remote host is missing an update to dash announced via advisory USN-732-1.

The problem can be corrected by upgrading your system to the following package versions: Ubuntu 8.04 LTS: dash 0.5.4-8ubuntu1.1 Ubuntu 8.10: dash 0.5.4-9ubuntu1.1 In general, a standard system upgrade is sufficient to effect the necessary changes. https://secure1.securityspace.com/smysecure/catid.html?in=USN-732-1

Wolfgang M. Reimer discovered that dash, when invoked as a login shell, would source .profile files from the current directory. Local users may be able to bypass security restrictions and gain root privileges by placing specially crafted .profile files where they might get sourced by other dash users.