Overly broad permissions can turn one compromised account into a much larger security problem. Learn how to reduce unnecessary access, review privileges, and apply least privilege across modern Linux systems. Review Linux Privileges×

Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 464
Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 464

Critical Security Flaw in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6: RHSA-2016:0082-01

red hat
Calendar Grey January 28, 2016
Scroller Redhat
Essential Red Hat modification for qemu-kvm tackles severe vulnerability associated with firmware setup discrepancies.
Updated qemu-kvm packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Solution

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

For details on how to apply this update, refer to:

https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

Summary

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a full virtualization solution for Linux on AMD64 and Intel 64 systems. The qemu-kvm package provides the user-space component for running virtual machines using KVM.
An out-of-bounds read/write flaw was discovered in the way QEMU's Firmware Configuration device emulation processed certain firmware configurations. A privileged (CAP_SYS_RAWIO) guest user could use this flaw to crash the QEMU process instance or, potentially, execute arbitrary code on the host with privileges of the QEMU process. (CVE-2016-1714)
Red Hat would like to thank Donghai Zhu of Alibaba for reporting this issue.
All qemu-kvm users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to correct this issue. After installing this update, shut down all running virtual machines. Once all virtual machines have shut down, start them again for this update to take effect.

References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-1714 https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification#important

Package List

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6):
Source: qemu-kvm-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.src.rpm
i386: qemu-guest-agent-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.i686.rpm qemu-kvm-debuginfo-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.i686.rpm
x86_64: qemu-guest-agent-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-img-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-kvm-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-kvm-debuginfo-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-kvm-tools-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6):
Source: qemu-kvm-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.src.rpm
x86_64: qemu-guest-agent-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-img-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-kvm-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-kvm-debuginfo-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-kvm-tools-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6):
Source: qemu-kvm-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.src.rpm
i386: qemu-guest-agent-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.i686.rpm qemu-kvm-debuginfo-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.i686.rpm
ppc64: qemu-guest-agent-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.ppc64.rpm qemu-kvm-debuginfo-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.ppc64.rpm
x86_64: qemu-guest-agent-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-img-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-kvm-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm qemu-kvm-debuginfo-0.12.1.2-2.479.el6_7.4.x86_64.rpm

Read the Full Advisory


Severity
important
Lowest
Low
Medium
High
Critical

Advisory ID: RHSA-2016:0082-01
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Issue date: 2016-01-28

Topic

Updated qemu-kvm packages that fix one security issue are now available forRed Hat Enterprise Linux 6.Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having Important securityimpact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, whichgives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in theReferences section.

Relevant Releases Architectures

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) - i386, ppc64, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

Bugs Fixed

1296060 - CVE-2016-1714 Qemu: nvram: OOB r/w access in processing firmware configurations

Get the latest News and Insights

Get the latest Linux and open source security news straight to your inbox.