Issued:

2010-09-07

Updated:

2010-09-07

RHSA-2010:0676 - Important: kernel security update

Synopsis

Important: kernel security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having important security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in the References section.

Description

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

This update fixes the following security issue:

• When an application has a stack overflow, the stack could silently overwrite another memory mapped area instead of a segmentation fault occurring, which could cause an application to execute arbitrary code, possibly leading to privilege escalation. It is known that the X Window System server can be used to trigger this flaw. (CVE-2010-2240, Important)

Red Hat would like to thank the X.Org security team for reporting this issue. Upstream acknowledges Rafal Wojtczuk as the original reporter.

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct this issue. 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

To install kernel packages manually, use "rpm -ivh [package]". Do not use "rpm -Uvh" as that will remove the running kernel binaries from your system. You may use "rpm -e" to remove old kernels after determining that the new kernel functions properly on your system.

Affected Products

Updated Packages

• kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.ppc64iseries.rpm
• kernel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.src.rpm
• kernel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.s390.rpm
• kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.i686.rpm
• kernel-xenU-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.i686.rpm
• kernel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.x86_64.rpm
• kernel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.s390x.rpm
• kernel-largesmp-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.x86_64.rpm
• kernel-doc-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.noarch.rpm
• kernel-largesmp-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.ia64.rpm
• kernel-hugemem-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.i686.rpm
• kernel-smp-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.x86_64.rpm
• kernel-hugemem-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.i686.rpm
• kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.s390.rpm
• kernel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.ppc64.rpm
• kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.s390x.rpm
• kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.ia64.rpm
• kernel-largesmp-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.x86_64.rpm
• kernel-smp-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.i686.rpm
• kernel-xenU-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.x86_64.rpm
• kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.x86_64.rpm
• kernel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.i686.rpm
• kernel-smp-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.x86_64.rpm
• kernel-largesmp-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.ia64.rpm
• kernel-smp-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.i686.rpm
• kernel-xenU-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.i686.rpm
• kernel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.ia64.rpm
• kernel-xenU-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.x86_64.rpm
• kernel-largesmp-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.ppc64.rpm
• kernel-largesmp-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.ppc64.rpm
• kernel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.ppc64iseries.rpm
• kernel-devel-2.6.9-89.0.29.EL.ppc64.rpm

Fixes

• This content is not included.BZ - 606611

CVEs

• CVE-2010-2240

References

• http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#important

Additional information

• The Red Hat security contact is This content is not included.secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.
• Offline Security Data data is available for integration with other systems. See Offline Security Data API to get started.