Issued:
2011-10-20
Updated:
2011-10-20

RHSA-2011:1386 - Important: kernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Synopsis

Important: kernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Important

Topic

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

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having important 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.

Security fixes:

  • The maximum file offset handling for ext4 file systems could allow a local, unprivileged user to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2011-2695, Important)

  • IPv6 fragment identification value generation could allow a remote attacker to disrupt a target system's networking, preventing legitimate users from accessing its services. (CVE-2011-2699, Important)

  • A malicious CIFS (Common Internet File System) server could send a specially-crafted response to a directory read request that would result in a denial of service or privilege escalation on a system that has a CIFS share mounted. (CVE-2011-3191, Important)

  • A local attacker could use mount.ecryptfs_private to mount (and then access) a directory they would otherwise not have access to. Note: To correct this issue, the RHSA-2011:1241 ecryptfs-utils update must also be installed. (CVE-2011-1833, Moderate)

  • A flaw in the taskstats subsystem could allow a local, unprivileged user to cause excessive CPU time and memory use. (CVE-2011-2484, Moderate)

  • Mapping expansion handling could allow a local, unprivileged user to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2011-2496, Moderate)

  • GRO (Generic Receive Offload) fields could be left in an inconsistent state. An attacker on the local network could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. GRO is enabled by default in all network drivers that support it. (CVE-2011-2723, Moderate)

  • RHSA-2011:1065 introduced a regression in the Ethernet bridge implementation. If a system had an interface in a bridge, and an attacker on the local network could send packets to that interface, they could cause a denial of service on that system. Xen hypervisor and KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) hosts often deploy bridge interfaces. (CVE-2011-2942, Moderate)

  • A flaw in the Xen hypervisor IOMMU error handling implementation could allow a privileged guest user, within a guest operating system that has direct control of a PCI device, to cause performance degradation on the host and possibly cause it to hang. (CVE-2011-3131, Moderate)

  • IPv4 and IPv6 protocol sequence number and fragment ID generation could allow a man-in-the-middle attacker to inject packets and possibly hijack connections. Protocol sequence number and fragment IDs are now more random. (CVE-2011-3188, Moderate)

  • A flaw in the kernel's clock implementation could allow a local, unprivileged user to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2011-3209, Moderate)

  • Non-member VLAN (virtual LAN) packet handling for interfaces in promiscuous mode and also using the be2net driver could allow an attacker on the local network to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2011-3347, Moderate)

  • A flaw in the auerswald USB driver could allow a local, unprivileged user to cause a denial of service or escalate their privileges by inserting a specially-crafted USB device. (CVE-2009-4067, Low)

  • A flaw in the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) implementation could allow a local, unprivileged user to leak information to user space. (CVE-2011-1160, Low)

  • A local, unprivileged user could possibly mount a CIFS share that requires authentication without knowing the correct password if the mount was already mounted by another local user. (CVE-2011-1585, Low)

Red Hat would like to thank Fernando Gont for reporting CVE-2011-2699; Darren Lavender for reporting CVE-2011-3191; the Ubuntu Security Team for reporting CVE-2011-1833; Vasiliy Kulikov of Openwall for reporting CVE-2011-2484; Robert Swiecki for reporting CVE-2011-2496; Brent Meshier for reporting CVE-2011-2723; Dan Kaminsky for reporting CVE-2011-3188; Yasuaki Ishimatsu for reporting CVE-2011-3209; Somnath Kotur for reporting CVE-2011-3347; Rafael Dominguez Vega for reporting CVE-2009-4067; and Peter Huewe for reporting CVE-2011-1160. The Ubuntu Security Team acknowledges Vasiliy Kulikov of Openwall and Dan Rosenberg as the original reporters of CVE-2011-1833.

Solution

This update also fixes several bugs and adds one enhancement. Documentation for these changes 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, and fix the bugs and add the enhancement noted in the Technical Notes. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.

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.https://access.redhat.com/kb/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-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.src.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.i386.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ppc.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-PAE-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ia64.rpm
  • kernel-PAE-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.i686.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-xen-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.18-274.7.1.el5.s390x.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information