Issued:
2009-08-04
Updated:
2009-08-04

RHSA-2009:1193 - 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.

Security fixes:

  • the possibility of a timeout value overflow was found in the Linux kernel high-resolution timers functionality, hrtimers. This could allow a local, unprivileged user to execute arbitrary code, or cause a denial of service (kernel panic). (CVE-2007-5966, Important)

  • a flaw was found in the Intel PRO/1000 network driver in the Linux kernel. Frames with sizes near the MTU of an interface may be split across multiple hardware receive descriptors. Receipt of such a frame could leak through a validation check, leading to a corruption of the length check. A remote attacker could use this flaw to send a specially-crafted packet that would cause a denial of service or code execution. (CVE-2009-1385, Important)

  • Michael Tokarev reported a flaw in the Realtek r8169 Ethernet driver in the Linux kernel. This driver allowed interfaces using this driver to receive frames larger than could be handled, which could lead to a remote denial of service or code execution. (CVE-2009-1389, Important)

  • the ADDR_COMPAT_LAYOUT and MMAP_PAGE_ZERO flags were not cleared when a setuid or setgid program was executed. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to bypass the mmap_min_addr protection mechanism and perform a NULL pointer dereference attack, or bypass the Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) security feature. (CVE-2009-1895, Important)

  • Ramon de Carvalho Valle reported two flaws in the Linux kernel eCryptfs implementation. A local attacker with permissions to perform an eCryptfs mount could modify the metadata of the files in that eCrypfts mount to cause a buffer overflow, leading to a denial of service or privilege escalation. (CVE-2009-2406, CVE-2009-2407, Important)

  • Konstantin Khlebnikov discovered a race condition in the ptrace implementation in the Linux kernel. This race condition can occur when the process tracing and the process being traced participate in a core dump. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to trigger a deadlock, resulting in a partial denial of service. (CVE-2009-1388, Moderate)

Bug fixes (see References below for a link to more detailed notes):

  • possible dom0 crash when a Xen para-virtualized guest was installed while another para-virtualized guest was rebooting. (BZ#497812)

  • no directory removal audit record if the directory and its subtree were recursively watched by an audit rule. (BZ#507561)

  • running "echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches" under high memory load could cause a kernel panic. (BZ#503692)

  • on 32-bit systems, core dumps for some multithreaded applications did not include all thread information. (BZ#505322)

  • a stack buffer used by get_event_name() was too small for nul terminator sprintf() writes. This could lead to an invalid pointer or kernel panic. (BZ#506906)

  • when using the aic94xx driver, systems with SATA drives may not boot due to a libsas bug. (BZ#506029)

  • Wacom Cintiq 21UX and Intuos stylus buttons were handled incorrectly when moved away from and back to these tablets. (BZ#508275)

  • CPU "soft lockup" messages and possibe system hangs on systems with certain Broadcom network devices and running the Linux kernel from the kernel-xen package. (BZ#503689)

  • on 64-bit PowerPC, getitimer() failed for programs using the ITIMER_REAL timer that were also compiled for 64-bit systems. This caused such programs to abort. (BZ#510018)

  • write operations could be blocked even when using O_NONBLOCK. (BZ#510239)

  • the "pci=nomsi" option was required for installing and booting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 on systems with VIA VT3364 chipsets. (BZ#507529)

  • shutting down, destroying, or migrating Xen guests with large amounts of memory could cause other guests to be temporarily unresponsive. (BZ#512311)

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues. Systems 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.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-kdump-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-PAE-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.src.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.i386.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ppc.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-PAE-devel-2.6.18-128.4.1.el5.i686.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information