1.Penguin Landscape Esm W900

Two new Linux kernel privilege escalation flaws have been discovered in the OverlayFS module in Ubuntu, which affect nearly 40% of Ubuntu users (CVE-2023-2640 and CVE-2023-32629). Modifications to the OverlayFS module introduced by the Linux kernel project in 2019 and 2022 conflicted with Ubuntu’s earlier changes, and Ubuntu's adoption of the new code introduced these two vulnerabilities.

The researchers who discovered these vulnerabilities have stated, “Both vulnerabilities are unique to Ubuntu kernels since they stemmed from Ubuntu’s individual changes to the OverlayFS module. Weaponized exploits for these vulnerabilities are already publicly available given old exploits for past OverlayFS vulnerabilities work out of the box without any changes.”

These issues can allow an unprivileged local user to gain elevated privileges on impacted systems.

Important updates for the kernel that mitigate these severe vulnerabilities are now available for Ubuntu users. We strongly recommend that all impacted users apply these updates immediately to protect against privilege escalation attacks leading to system compromise.

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