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 1 461
Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 461

Ubuntu 12.10 USN-1699-1 Critical: Kernel Denial Of Service Issue

ubuntu
Calendar Grey January 18, 2013
Scroller Ubuntu
Multiple vulnerabilities addressed in Ubuntu 12.10 kernel. Detailed update guidance and severity ratings provided.
Several security issues were fixed in the kernel.

Summary

Several security issues were fixed in the kernel.

Software Description:

- linux: Linux kernel

Details:

Jon Howell reported a flaw in the Linux kernel's KVM (Kernel-based virtual

machine) subsystem's handling of the XSAVE CPU feature. On hosts without the

XSAVE CPU feature, using qemu userspace, an unprivileged local attacker could

exploit this flaw to crash the system. (CVE-2012-4461)

A flaw was discovered in the Linux kernel's handling of script execution

when module loading is enabled. A local attacker could exploit this flaw to

cause a leak of kernel stack contents. (CVE-2012-4530)

Florian Weimer discovered that hypervkvpd, which is distributed in the

Linux kernel, was not correctly validating source addresses of netlink

packets. An untrusted local user can cause a denial of service by causing

hypervkvpd to exit. (CVE-2012-5532)

Update Instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following
package versions:

Ubuntu 12.10:
  linux-image-3.5.0-22-generic    3.5.0-22.34
  linux-image-3.5.0-22-highbank   3.5.0-22.34
  linux-image-3.5.0-22-omap       3.5.0-22.34
  linux-image-3.5.0-22-powerpc-smp  3.5.0-22.34
  linux-image-3.5.0-22-powerpc64-smp  3.5.0-22.34

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make
all the necessary changes.

ATTENTION: Due to an unavoidable ABI change the kernel updates have
been given a new version number, which requires you to recompile and
reinstall all third party kernel modules you might have installed. If
you use linux-restricted-modules, you have to update that package as
well to get modules which work with the new kernel version. Unless you
manually uninstalled the standard kernel metapackages (e.g. linux-generic,
linux-server, linux-powerpc), a standard system upgrade will automatically
perform this as well.

References

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-1699-1

CVE-2012-4461, CVE-2012-4530, CVE-2012-5532

Severity
critical
Lowest
Low
Medium
High
Critical

January 18, 2013

Package Information

Get the latest News and Insights

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