Issued:
2010-11-09
Updated:
2010-11-09

RHSA-2010:0839 - Moderate: kernel security and bug fix update

Synopsis

Moderate: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Moderate

Topic

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

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderate security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores, which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability from the CVE links 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 issues:

  • A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the io_submit_one() function in the Linux kernel asynchronous I/O implementation. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-3066, Moderate)

  • A flaw was found in the xfs_ioc_fsgetxattr() function in the Linux kernel XFS file system implementation. A data structure in xfs_ioc_fsgetxattr() was not initialized properly before being copied to user-space. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause an information leak. (CVE-2010-3078, Moderate)

  • The exception fixup code for the __futex_atomic_op1, __futex_atomic_op2, and futex_atomic_cmpxchg_inatomic() macros replaced the LOCK prefix with a NOP instruction. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-3086, Moderate)

  • A flaw was found in the tcf_act_police_dump() function in the Linux kernel network traffic policing implementation. A data structure in tcf_act_police_dump() was not initialized properly before being copied to user-space. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause an information leak. (CVE-2010-3477, Moderate)

  • A missing upper bound integer check was found in the sys_io_submit() function in the Linux kernel asynchronous I/O implementation. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause an information leak. (CVE-2010-3067, Low)

Red Hat would like to thank Tavis Ormandy for reporting CVE-2010-3066, CVE-2010-3086, and CVE-2010-3067, and Dan Rosenberg for reporting CVE-2010-3078.

This update also fixes several bugs. Documentation for these bug fixes will be available shortly from the Technical Notes document linked to in the References section.

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

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

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian5ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems5s390x
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 Desktop5x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop5i386

Updated Packages

  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.i386.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.src.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-PAE-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-PAE-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ppc.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-194.26.1.el5.i686.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information