Issued:
2010-02-02
Updated:
2010-02-02

RHSA-2010:0076 - 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 multiple security issues and three bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

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:

  • an array index error was found in the gdth driver in the Linux kernel. A local user could send a specially-crafted IOCTL request that would cause a denial of service or, possibly, privilege escalation. (CVE-2009-3080, Important)

  • a flaw was found in the collect_rx_frame() function in the HiSax ISDN driver (hfc_usb) in the Linux kernel. An attacker could use this flaw to send a specially-crafted HDLC packet that could trigger a buffer out of bounds, possibly resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2009-4005, Important)

  • permission issues were found in the megaraid_sas driver (for SAS based RAID controllers) in the Linux kernel. The "dbg_lvl" and "poll_mode_io" files on the sysfs file system ("/sys/") had world-writable permissions. This could allow local, unprivileged users to change the behavior of the driver. (CVE-2009-3889, CVE-2009-3939, Moderate)

  • a buffer overflow flaw was found in the hfs_bnode_read() function in the HFS file system implementation in the Linux kernel. This could lead to a denial of service if a user browsed a specially-crafted HFS file system, for example, by running "ls". (CVE-2009-4020, Low)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

  • if a process was using ptrace() to trace a multi-threaded process, and that multi-threaded process dumped its core, the process performing the trace could hang in wait4(). This issue could be triggered by running "strace -f" on a multi-threaded process that was dumping its core, resulting in the strace command hanging. (BZ#555869)

  • a bug in the ptrace() implementation could have, in some cases, caused ptrace_detach() to create a zombie process if the process being traced was terminated with a SIGKILL signal. (BZ#555869)

  • the RHSA-2010:0020 update resolved an issue (CVE-2009-4537) in the Realtek r8169 Ethernet driver. This update implements a better solution for that issue. Note: This is not a security regression. The original fix was complete. This update is adding the official upstream fix. (BZ#556406)

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 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 Support4.8x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support4.8ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support4.8i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian4ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support4.8ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems4s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems4s390
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support4.8s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support4.8s390
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation4ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation4i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server4ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server4i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop4i386

Updated Packages

  • kernel-largesmp-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-xenU-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.i686.rpm
  • kernel-largesmp-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.s390.rpm
  • kernel-largesmp-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-smp-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.i686.rpm
  • kernel-hugemem-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.ppc64iseries.rpm
  • kernel-smp-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.i686.rpm
  • kernel-xenU-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-xenU-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-largesmp-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.src.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-largesmp-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-xenU-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.i686.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-largesmp-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.s390.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-hugemem-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.i686.rpm
  • kernel-smp-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-smp-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.i686.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.20.EL.ppc64iseries.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information