Issued:
2009-05-07
Updated:
2009-05-07

RHSA-2009:0473 - Important: kernel security and bug fix update

Synopsis

Important: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix several security issues and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

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

Description

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system.

This update fixes the following security issues:

  • a logic error was found in the do_setlk() function of the Linux kernel Network File System (NFS) implementation. If a signal interrupted a lock request, the local POSIX lock was incorrectly created. This could cause a denial of service on the NFS server if a file descriptor was closed before its corresponding lock request returned. (CVE-2008-4307, Important)

  • a deficiency was found in the Linux kernel system call auditing implementation on 64-bit systems. This could allow a local, unprivileged user to circumvent a system call audit configuration, if that configuration filtered based on the "syscall" number or arguments. (CVE-2009-0834, Important)

  • the exit_notify() function in the Linux kernel did not properly reset the exit signal if a process executed a set user ID (setuid) application before exiting. This could allow a local, unprivileged user to elevate their privileges. (CVE-2009-1337, Important)

  • a flaw was found in the ecryptfs_write_metadata_to_contents() function of the Linux kernel eCryptfs implementation. On systems with a 4096 byte page-size, this flaw may have caused 4096 bytes of uninitialized kernel memory to be written into the eCryptfs file headers, leading to an information leak. Note: Encrypted files created on systems running the vulnerable version of eCryptfs may contain leaked data in the eCryptfs file headers. This update does not remove any leaked data. Refer to the Knowledgebase article in the References section for further information. (CVE-2009-0787, Moderate)

  • the Linux kernel implementation of the Network File System (NFS) did not properly initialize the file name limit in the nfs_server data structure. This flaw could possibly lead to a denial of service on a client mounting an NFS share. (CVE-2009-1336, Moderate)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

  • the enic driver (Cisco 10G Ethernet) did not operate under virtualization. (BZ#472474)

  • network interfaces using the IBM eHEA Ethernet device driver could not be successfully configured under low-memory conditions. (BZ#487035)

  • bonding with the "arp_validate=3" option may have prevented fail overs. (BZ#488064)

  • when running under virtualization, the acpi-cpufreq module wrote "Domain attempted WRMSR" errors to the dmesg log. (BZ#488928)

  • NFS clients may have experienced deadlocks during unmount. (BZ#488929)

  • the ixgbe driver double counted the number of received bytes and packets. (BZ#489459)

  • the Wacom Intuos3 Lens Cursor device did not work correctly with the Wacom Intuos3 12x12 tablet. (BZ#489460)

  • on the Itanium(r) architecture, nanosleep() caused commands which used it, such as sleep and usleep, to sleep for one second more than expected. (BZ#490434)

  • a panic and corruption of slab cache data structures occurred on 64-bit PowerPC systems when clvmd was running. (BZ#491677)

  • the NONSTOP_TSC feature did not perform correctly on the Intel(r) microarchitecture (Nehalem) when running in 32-bit mode. (BZ#493356)

  • keyboards may not have functioned on IBM eServer System p machines after a certain point during installation or afterward. (BZ#494293)

  • using Device Mapper Multipathing with the qla2xxx driver resulted in frequent path failures. (BZ#495635)

  • if the hypervisor was booted with the dom0_max_vcpus parameter set to less than the actual number of CPUs in the system, and the cpuspeed service was started, the hypervisor could crash. (BZ#495931)

  • using Openswan to provide an IPsec virtual private network eventually resulted in a CPU soft lockup and a system crash. (BZ#496044)

  • it was possible for posix_locks_deadlock() to enter an infinite loop (under the BKL), causing a system hang. (BZ#496842)

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.

Solution

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

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

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support5.3x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support5.3ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support5.3i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian5ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support5.3ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems5s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support5.3s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI5i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS5.3x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS5.3ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS5.3i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5i386

Updated Packages

  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.src.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.i386.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-PAE-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ppc.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-PAE-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.ppc64.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information