Issued:
2005-05-25
Updated:
2005-05-25

RHSA-2005:472 - kernel security update


Synopsis

kernel security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix several security issues in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 kernel are now available.

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.

These new kernel packages contain fixes for the three security issues described below as well as an important fix for a problem that could lead to data corruption on x86-architecture SMP systems with greater than 4GB of memory through heavy usage of multi-threaded applications.

A flaw between execve() syscall handling and core dumping of ELF-format executables allowed local unprivileged users to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly gain privileges. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project has assigned the name CAN-2005-1263 to this issue.

A flaw in shared memory locking allowed local unprivileged users to lock and unlock regions of shared memory segments they did not own (CAN-2005-0176).

A flaw in the locking of SysV IPC shared memory regions allowed local unprivileged users to bypass their RLIMIT_MEMLOCK resource limit (CAN-2004-0491).

Note: The kernel-unsupported package contains various drivers and modules that are unsupported and therefore might contain security problems that have not been addressed.

All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 users are advised to upgrade their kernels to the packages associated with their machine architectures and configurations as listed in this erratum.

Please also consult the RHEL3 Update 5 advisory RHSA-2005:294 for the complete list of features added and bugs fixed in U5, which was released only a week prior to this security update.

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 for Power, big endian3ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems3s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems3s390
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation3x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation3ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation3i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server3x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server3ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server3i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop3x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop3i386

Updated Packages

  • kernel-2.4.21-32.0.1.EL.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.4.21-32.0.1.EL.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-source-2.4.21-32.0.1.EL.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-unsupported-2.4.21-32.0.1.EL.ia64.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

(none)


Additional information