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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5: RHSA-2008:0275-01 Critical Kernel Update

red hat
Calendar Grey May 20, 2008
Dist Redhat Esm H88
Enhancements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 focus on critical kernel vulnerabilities and a multitude of bug resolutions.
Updated kernel packages that fix various security issues and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. This update has been rated as having important securit...

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at

Summary

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system.
These updated packages fix the following security issues:
* on AMD64 architectures, the possibility of a kernel crash was discovered by testing the Linux kernel process-trace ability. This could allow a local unprivileged user to cause a denial of service (kernel crash). (CVE-2008-1615, Important)
* on 64-bit architectures, the possibility of a timer-expiration value overflow was found in the Linux kernel high-resolution timers functionality, hrtimer. This could allow a local unprivileged user to setup a large interval value, forcing the timer expiry value to become negative, causing a denial of service (kernel hang). (CVE-2007-6712, Important)
* the possibility of a kernel crash was found in the Linux kernel IPsec protocol implementation, due to improper handling of fragmented ESP packets. When an attacker controlling an intermediate router fragmented these packets into very small pieces, it would cause a kernel crash on the receiving node during packet reassembly. (CVE-2007-6282, Important)
* a potential denial of service attack was discovered in the Linux kernel PWC USB video driver. A local unprivileged user could use this flaw to bring the kernel USB subsystem into the busy-waiting state, causing a denial of service. (CVE-2007-5093, Low)
As well, these updated packages fix the following bugs:
* in certain situations, a kernel hang and a possible panic occurred when disabling the cpufreq daemon. This may have prevented system reboots from completing successfully.
* continual "softlockup" messages, which occurred on the guest's console after a successful save and restore of a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 para-virtualized guest, have been resolved.
* in the previous kernel packages, the kernel may not have reclaimed NFS locks after a system reboot.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to resolve these issues.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory DoS attack Red Hat Enterprise Linux important update bug report kernel bug fix

References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2007-5093 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2007-6282 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2007-6712 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-1615 https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification#important

Package List

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client):
Source:
i386: kernel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-PAE-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-PAE-debuginfo-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-PAE-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-debug-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-debuginfo-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-debuginfo-common-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-headers-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i386.rpm kernel-xen-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-xen-debuginfo-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.i686.rpm
noarch: kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm
x86_64: kernel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm kernel-debug-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm kernel-debug-debuginfo-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm kernel-debuginfo-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm kernel-debuginfo-common-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm kernel-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm kernel-headers-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm kernel-xen-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm kernel-xen-debuginfo-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm

Read the Full Advisory


Severity
important
Lowest
Low
Medium
High
Critical

Advisory ID: RHSA-2008:0275-01
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Advisory URL: https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2008:0275.html
Issue date: 2008-05-20

Topic

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

This update has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory DoS attack Red Hat Enterprise Linux important update bug report kernel bug fix

Relevant Releases Architectures

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) - i386, noarch, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) - i386, ia64, noarch, ppc, s390x, x86_64

Bugs Fixed

306591 - CVE-2007-5093 kernel PWC driver DoS

400821 - rhel5.1s2 hang at 'Disabling ondemand cpu frequency scaling' [rhel-5.1.z]

404291 - CVE-2007-6282 IPSec ESP kernel panics

429516 - booting with maxcpus=1 panics when starting cpufreq service [rhel-5.1.z]

431430 - CVE-2008-1615 kernel: ptrace: Unprivileged crash on x86_64 %cs corruption

439999 - CVE-2007-6712 kernel: infinite loop in highres timers (kernel hang)

444402 - [RHEL5]: Softlockup after save/restore in PV guest

445360 - RHEL5.1 kernel not reclaiming NFS locks when server reboots

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