Issued:
2005-08-25
Updated:
2005-08-25

RHSA-2005:551 - kernel security update

Synopsis

kernel security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages are now available to correct security issues and bugs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 2.1 (Itanium).

This update 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 a kernel maintenance update to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1.

The following security issues are corrected:

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 ptrace for Itanium architectures was discovered. A local user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly gain privileges. (CAN-2005-1761)

A race condition in the ia32 compatibility code for the execve system call was discovered. A local user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service (kernel panic) or possibly gain privileges. (CAN-2005-1768)

A flaw when freeing a pointer in load_elf_library was discovered. A local user could potentially use this flaw to cause a denial of service (crash). (CAN-2005-0749)

The Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) driver did not properly check the DMA lock, which could allow remote attackers or local users to cause a denial of service (X Server crash) or possibly modify the video output. (CAN-2004-1056)

A flaw in the moxa serial driver could allow a local user to perform privileged operations such as replacing the firmware. (CAN-2005-0504)

The following bug fixes were also made:

  • "busy inodes after unmount" error on NFS volumes
  • Establish 64-bit limits even for 32-bit threads
  • Fix a race condition in __get_lease
  • Fix error in IDE disk accounting. This last fix causes IO accounting to occur only on READ and WRITE operations. This fixes several bugs in various accounting and statistic utilities.
  • Fix kswapd/dquot deadlock bug
  • Fix loop control bug in do_shmem_file_read

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

Solution

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

This update is available via Red Hat Network. To use Red Hat Network, launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate RPMs being upgraded on your system.

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation2ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server2ia64

Updated Packages

  • kernel-2.4.18-e.58.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-source-2.4.18-e.58.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-smp-2.4.18-e.58.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.4.18-e.58.ia64.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

(none)

Additional information