Issued:
2012-01-23
Updated:
2012-01-23

RHBA-2012:0044 - kernel-rt bug fix update

Synopsis

kernel-rt bug fix update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated kernel-rt packages that fix various bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2.1.

Description

The kernel-rt package has been upgraded to upstream version 3.0, which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version. (BZ#725485)

This update fixes the following bugs:

  • Some applications use flawed versioning logic that cannot recognize new Linux kernel versions in the format of 3.x.y. As a workaround to this bug in external applications, the new uname26 utility has been added to MRG Realtime 2.1. This utility activates the 2.6 personality kernel patch to transform data returned by the uname(2) system call to the format of 2.6.40+[minor_release_number], and then executes the actual application. (BZ#749575)

  • The recvmmsg() and sendmmsg() system calls were missing from the code and were previously unavailable. This update restores the code with the system calls. (BZ#708407)

  • The /proc/kcore virtual file could be read beyond the ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) header file info and a malicious root user could read the file beyond the ELF header information. Now, kcore can be read only to its ELF header file information as intended. (BZ#663865)

  • The %pK printk format specifier was not added when printing the data from the /proc/kallsyms and /proc/ modules interfaces. This could cause kernel address leaks. With this update, %pK is properly used when returning data from the interfaces. (BZ#679263)

  • The kernel and kernel-rt packages delivered the same set of kernel man pages. Consequently, file conflicts occurred when both kernel-doc and kernel-rt-doc were being installed. This update adds the rt suffix to the files with kernel-rt-doc man pages and the file conflicts no longer occur. (BZ#711488)

  • Both the Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernel and the Red Hat Enterprise MRG Realtime kernel delivered the /lib/firmware/WHENCE file, which caused an installation conflict. With this update, this file has been moved to a versioned directory in the Realtime kernel, thus fixing this bug. (BZ#725028)

  • The cred_alloc_blank() function called the abort_creds(new) function with new->security == NULL and new->magic == 0 if the security_cred_alloc_blank() function returned an error. As a result, the BUG() function was triggered if SELinux was enabled or if the CONFIG_DEBUG_CREDENTIALS property was active. Now, new->magic is set before the security_cred_alloc_blank() function is called and cred->security with the NULL value in creds_are_invalid() and selinux_cred_free() functions is now handled gracefully. (BZ#717905)

  • Certain kernel static data areas and kernel modules have writable or executable memory areas. Prior to this update, malicious software could overwrite the data and potentially execute code in these areas. With this update, the RO (Read-Only) and NX (No eXecute) bits have been added to the memory areas to prevent such actions. (BZ#679272)

Users of kernel-rt are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix these bugs. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
MRG Realtime2x86_64

Updated Packages

  • kernel-rt-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.src.rpm
  • kernel-rt-debug-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-doc-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-rt-debuginfo-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-debug-debuginfo-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-trace-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-vanilla-devel-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-debug-devel-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-trace-debuginfo-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-vanilla-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-firmware-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-rt-devel-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-vanilla-debuginfo-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-trace-devel-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64-3.0.9-rt26.45.el6rt.x86_64.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)

Additional information