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 17.04 USN-3484-1 Critical: KVM Denial of Service Risk

ubuntu
Calendar Grey November 21, 2017
Scroller Ubuntu
Ubuntu 18.04 experiences serious kernel vulnerability leading to elevated permissions or potential system instability. Recommended patch information provided.
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

- linux-raspi2: Linux kernel for Raspberry Pi 2

Details:

It was discovered that the KVM subsystem in the Linux kernel did not

properly keep track of nested levels in guest page tables. A local attacker

in a guest VM could use this to cause a denial of service (host OS crash)

or possibly execute arbitrary code in the host OS.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory denial of service critical Ubuntu kernel system crash KVM

Update Instructions

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

Ubuntu 17.04:
  linux-image-4.10.0-1021-raspi2  4.10.0-1021.24
  linux-image-4.10.0-40-generic   4.10.0-40.44
  linux-image-4.10.0-40-generic-lpae  4.10.0-40.44
  linux-image-4.10.0-40-lowlatency  4.10.0-40.44
  linux-image-generic             4.10.0.40.40
  linux-image-generic-lpae        4.10.0.40.40
  linux-image-lowlatency          4.10.0.40.40
  linux-image-raspi2              4.10.0.1021.22

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.
Unless you manually uninstalled the standard kernel metapackages
(e.g. linux-generic, linux-generic-lts-RELEASE, linux-virtual,
linux-powerpc), a standard system upgrade will automatically perform
this as well.

References

CVE-2017-12188

Severity
critical
Lowest
Low
Medium
High
Critical

November 21, 2017

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory denial of service critical Ubuntu kernel system crash KVM

Package Information

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/4.10.0-40.44
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-raspi2/4.10.0-1021.24

Get the latest News and Insights

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