Issued:
2011-11-22
Updated:
2011-11-22

RHSA-2011:1465 - 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 various bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

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.

This update fixes the following security issues:

  • 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 signedness issue was found in the Linux kernel's CIFS (Common Internet File System) implementation. A malicious CIFS 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 flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel handled fragmented IPv6 UDP datagrams over the bridge with UDP Fragmentation Offload (UFO) functionality on. A remote attacker could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2011-4326, Important)

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

  • A buffer overflow flaw was found in the Linux kernel's FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) implementation. A local user in the fuse group who has access to mount a FUSE file system could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2011-3353, Moderate)

  • A flaw was found in the b43 driver in the Linux kernel. If a system had an active wireless interface that uses the b43 driver, an attacker able to send a specially-crafted frame to that interface could cause a denial of service. (CVE-2011-3359, Moderate)

  • A flaw was found in the way CIFS shares with DFS referrals at their root were handled. An attacker on the local network who is able to deploy a malicious CIFS server could create a CIFS network share that, when mounted, would cause the client system to crash. (CVE-2011-3363, Moderate)

  • A flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel handled VLAN 0 frames with the priority tag set. When using certain network drivers, an attacker on the local network could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2011-3593, Moderate)

  • A flaw in the way memory containing security-related data was handled in tpm_read() could allow a local, unprivileged user to read the results of a previously run TPM command. (CVE-2011-1162, Low)

  • A heap overflow flaw was found in the Linux kernel's EFI GUID Partition Table (GPT) implementation. A local attacker could use this flaw to cause a denial of service by mounting a disk that contains specially-crafted partition tables. (CVE-2011-1577, Low)

  • The I/O statistics from the taskstats subsystem could be read without any restrictions. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to gather confidential information, such as the length of a password used in a process. (CVE-2011-2494, Low)

  • It was found that the perf tool, a part of the Linux kernel's Performance Events implementation, could load its configuration file from the current working directory. If a local user with access to the perf tool were tricked into running perf in a directory that contains a specially-crafted configuration file, it could cause perf to overwrite arbitrary files and directories accessible to that user. (CVE-2011-2905, Low)

Red Hat would like to thank Fernando Gont for reporting CVE-2011-2699; Darren Lavender for reporting CVE-2011-3191; Dan Kaminsky for reporting CVE-2011-3188; Yogesh Sharma for reporting CVE-2011-3363; Gideon Naim for reporting CVE-2011-3593; Peter Huewe for reporting CVE-2011-1162; Timo Warns for reporting CVE-2011-1577; and Vasiliy Kulikov of Openwall for reporting CVE-2011-2494.

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

Solution

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues, and fix the bugs 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 Virtual Storage Appliance (from RHUI)6.1x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support6.1x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support6.1i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian6ppc64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support6.1ppc64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support6.1s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI6.1x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI6.1i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems)6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems)6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop6i386

Updated Packages

  • perf-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-i686-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-bootwrapper-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • perf-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • perf-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.src.rpm
  • perf-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-firmware-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.s390x.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information