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 1 542
Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 542

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RHSA-2016:2605-02 Low Risk Util-Linux DoS Issue

red hat
Calendar Grey November 3, 2016
Scroller Redhat
A critical patch for util-linux within Red Hat Enterprise Linux has been released to mitigate possible security vulnerabilities and resolve existing issues.
An update for util-linux is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Solution

For details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to:

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

Summary

The util-linux packages contain a large variety of low-level system utilities that are necessary for a Linux system to function. Among others, these include the fdisk configuration tool and the login program.
Security Fix(es):
* It was found that util-linux's libblkid library did not properly handle Extended Boot Record (EBR) partitions when reading MS-DOS partition tables. An attacker with physical USB access to a protected machine could insert a storage device with a specially crafted partition table that could, for example, trigger an infinite loop in systemd-udevd, resulting in a denial of service on that machine. (CVE-2016-5011)
Red Hat would like to thank Michael Gruhn for reporting this issue. Upstream acknowledges Christian Moch as the original reporter.
Additional Changes:
For detailed information on changes in this release, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 Release Notes linked from the References section.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory denial of service util-linux red hat enterprise system utilities low risk

References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-5011 https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification#low https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/7.3_Release_Notes/index.html

Package List

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7):
Source: util-linux-2.23.2-33.el7.src.rpm
x86_64: libblkid-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm libblkid-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm libmount-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm libmount-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm libuuid-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm libuuid-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm util-linux-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm util-linux-debuginfo-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm util-linux-debuginfo-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm uuidd-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7):
x86_64: libblkid-devel-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm libblkid-devel-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm libmount-devel-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm libmount-devel-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm libuuid-devel-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm libuuid-devel-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm util-linux-debuginfo-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm util-linux-debuginfo-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7):
Source: util-linux-2.23.2-33.el7.src.rpm
x86_64: libblkid-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm libblkid-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm libmount-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm libmount-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm libuuid-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm libuuid-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm util-linux-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm util-linux-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm util-linux-debuginfo-2.23.2-33.el7.i686.rpm util-linux-debuginfo-2.23.2-33.el7.x86_64.rpm

Read the Full Advisory


Severity
low
Lowest
Low
Medium
High
Critical

Advisory ID: RHSA-2016:2605-02
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Advisory URL: https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:2605.html
Issue date: 2016-11-03

Topic

An update for util-linux is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impactof Low. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, whichgives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability fromthe CVE link(s) in the References section.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory denial of service util-linux red hat enterprise system utilities low risk

Relevant Releases Architectures

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) - aarch64, ppc64, ppc64le, s390x, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) - aarch64, ppc64, ppc64le, s390x, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) - x86_64

Bugs Fixed

1007734 - blkid shows devices as /dev/block/$MAJOR:$MINOR

1029385 - lack of non-ascii support

1248003 - mount only parses = lines from fstab fs_spec field available from blkid block device

1271850 - mount -a doesn't catch a typo in /etc/fstab and a typo in /etc/fstab can make a system not reboot properly

1290689 - util-linux: /bin/login does not retry getpwnam_r with larger buffers, leading to login failure

1291554 - lslogins crash when executed with buggy username

1296366 - Bash completion for more(1) handles file names with spaces incorrectly

1296521 - RHEL7: update audit event in hwclock

1301091 - [libblkid] Failed to get offset of the xfs_external_log signature

1304426 - [rfe] /bin/su should be improved to reduce stack use

1327886 - Backport blkdiscard's "-z" flag to RHEL

1335671 - extra quotes around UUID confuses findfs in RHEL (but not in Fedora)

1344482 - util-linux fails valid_pmbr() size checks if device is > 2.14TB, Device label type: dos instead of gpt

1349536 - Extended partition loop in MBR partition table leads to DOS

1349741 - CVE-2016-5011 util-linux: Extended partition loop in MBR partition table leads to DOS

Get the latest News and Insights

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