Issued:
2005-04-28
Updated:
2005-04-28

RHSA-2005:284 - kernel security update

Synopsis

kernel security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages are now available as part of ongoing support and maintenance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 2.1 for 64-bit architectures. This is the seventh regular update.

This security advisory has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

Description

The Linux kernel handles the basic functions of the operating system.

This is the seventh regular kernel update to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1.

The following security updates were made:

A flaw in fragment queuing was discovered that affected the Linux 2.4 and Linux 2.6 kernel netfilter subsystem. On systems configured to filter or process network packets (for example, those configured to do firewalling), a remote attacker could send a carefully crafted set of fragmented packets to a machine and cause a denial of service (system crash). In order to sucessfully exploit this flaw, the attacker would need to know (or guess) some aspects of the firewall ruleset in place on the target system to be able to craft the right fragmented packets. (CAN-2005-0449)

A flaw was discovered in the Linux PPP driver. On systems allowing remote users to connect to a server using ppp, a remote client could cause a denial of service (system crash). (CAN-2005-0384)

A flaw was discovered in the bluetooth driver system. On systems where the bluetooth modules are loaded, a local user could use this flaw to gain elevated (root) privileges. (CAN-2005-0750)

Keith Owens reported a flaw in the Itanium unw_unwind_to_user() function. A local user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service (system crash). (CAN-2005-0135)

A missing Itanium syscall table entry could allow an unprivileged local user to cause a denial of service (system crash). (CAN-2005-0137)

There were several bug fixes in various parts of the kernel. The ongoing effort to resolve these problems has resulted in a marked improvement in the reliability and scalability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1.

Bug fixes for this release include:

  • Fixes an incorrect test in RPC for SYN packets when reconnecting an idle TCP link
  • Fixes a memory-corruption bug in the DMA path that can cause system hangs or unpredictable behavior under heavy I/O load
  • Adds new devices to the SCSI scan list so they can be initialized and handled properly: LSI ProFibre 4000R, HP HSV200/210, HP MSA, STK OPENstorage D178.
  • Fixes a hang under heavy I/O load in the qla1280 driver
  • Fixes a panic in disk quota code
  • Fixes a potential format overflow in /proc/partitions
  • Fixes ipvs calls to ip_defrag()

All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 users are advised to upgrade their kernels to the packages associated with their machine architectures and configurations as listed in this erratum.

Please note that a vulnerability addressed by this update (CAN-2005-0449) required a change to the kernel module ABI which could cause third party modules to not work. However, Red Hat is currently not aware of any module that would be affected by this change.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied. Use Red Hat Network to download and update your packages. To launch the Red Hat Update Agent, use the following command:

up2date

For information on how to install packages manually, refer to the following Web page for the System Administration or Customization guide specific to your system:

This content is not included.http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation2ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server2ia64

Updated Packages

  • kernel-doc-2.4.18-e.56.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-source-2.4.18-e.56.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-smp-2.4.18-e.56.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-2.4.18-e.56.ia64.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

(none)

Additional information