Issued:
2014-10-30
Updated:
2014-10-30

RHSA-2014:1763 - Important: kernel security update

Synopsis

Important: kernel security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix two security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 Advanced Update Support.

Red Hat Product Security 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.

  • A flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's futex subsystem handled reference counting when requeuing futexes during futex_wait(). A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to zero out the reference counter of an inode or an mm struct that backs up the memory area of the futex, which could lead to a use-after-free flaw, resulting in a system crash or, potentially, privilege escalation. (CVE-2014-0205)

  • A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) implementation handled simultaneous connections between the same hosts. A remote attacker could use this flaw to crash the system. (CVE-2014-5077)

The security impact of the CVE-2014-0205 issue was discovered by Mateusz Guzik of Red Hat.

All kernel users are advised to 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 https://access.redhat.com/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 Server - AUS6.2x86_64

Updated Packages

  • kernel-debug-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.src.rpm
  • kernel-headers-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-doc-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.noarch.rpm
  • kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-devel-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debug-devel-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • python-perf-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • perf-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • python-perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-debuginfo-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • perf-debuginfo-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • kernel-firmware-2.6.32-220.56.1.el6.noarch.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

References

Additional information