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 12.04 LTS USN-1914-1 Critical: Kernel Admin Access Issue

ubuntu
Calendar Grey July 29, 2013
Scroller Ubuntu
Ensure your Ubuntu distribution is current to mitigate a kernel vulnerability that could lead to system crashes or permit unauthorized execution of applications with elevated privileges.
The system could be made to crash or run programs as an administrator.

Summary

The system could be made to crash or run programs as an administrator.

Software Description:

- linux: Linux kernel

Details:

Kees Cook discovered a format string vulnerability in the Broadcom B43

wireless driver for the Linux kernel. A local user could exploit this flaw

to gain administrative privileges.

Update Instructions

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

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS:
  linux-image-3.2.0-51-generic    3.2.0-51.77
  linux-image-3.2.0-51-generic-pae  3.2.0-51.77
  linux-image-3.2.0-51-highbank   3.2.0-51.77
  linux-image-3.2.0-51-omap       3.2.0-51.77
  linux-image-3.2.0-51-powerpc-smp  3.2.0-51.77
  linux-image-3.2.0-51-powerpc64-smp  3.2.0-51.77
  linux-image-3.2.0-51-virtual    3.2.0-51.77

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-1914-1

CVE-2013-2852

Severity
critical
Lowest
Low
Medium
High
Critical

July 29, 2013

Package Information

Get the latest News and Insights

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