Issued:
2013-03-19
Updated:
2013-03-19

RHSA-2013:0662 - 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 one security issue and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 Extended Update Support.

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:

  • A race condition was found in the way the Linux kernel's ptrace implementation handled PTRACE_SETREGS requests when the debuggee was woken due to a SIGKILL signal instead of being stopped. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to escalate their privileges. (CVE-2013-0871, Important)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

  • Previously, init scripts were unable to set the MAC address of the master interface properly because it was overwritten by the first slave MAC address. To avoid this problem, this update re-introduces the check for an unassigned MAC address before setting the MAC address of the first slave interface as the MAC address of the master interface. (BZ#908735)

  • When using transparent proxy (TProxy) over IPv6, the kernel previously created neighbor entries for local interfaces and peers that were not reachable directly. This update corrects this problem and the kernel no longer creates invalid neighbor entries. (BZ#909158)

  • Due to the incorrect validation of a pointer dereference in the d_validate() function, running a command such as ls or find on the MultiVersion File System (MVFS), used by IBM Rational ClearCase, for example, could trigger a kernel panic. This update modifies d_validate() to verify the parent-child dentry relationship by searching through the parent's d_child list. The kernel no longer panics in this situation. (BZ#915582)

  • A previously backported patch introduced usage of the page_descs length field but did not set the page data length for the FUSE page descriptor. This code path can be exercised by a loopback device (pagecache_write_end) if used over FUSE. As a result, fuse_copy_page does not copy page data from the page descriptor to the user-space request buffer and the user space can see uninitialized data. This could previously lead to file system data corruption. This problem has been fixed by setting the page_descs length prior to submitting the requests, and FUSE therefore provides correctly initialized data. (BZ#916956)

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to resolve 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 https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/11258

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 x86_64 - Extended Update Support6.3x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support6.3i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support6.3ppc64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support6.3s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI6.3x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI6.3i386

Updated Packages

  • python-perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • perf-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.src.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • python-perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-devel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • python-perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-i686-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-firmware-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • python-perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-bootwrapper-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • python-perf-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • perf-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • python-perf-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-kdump-debuginfo-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • python-perf-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • perf-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • python-perf-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • perf-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.s390x.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.32-279.23.1.el6.i686.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information