Security update for Linux kernel

Knowledgebase

(Last modified: 22MAR2005)

solutions Security update for Linux kernel SuSE Linux Maintenance Web (2f052099ef01089eb6b25acc317b9dde)

Applies to

Package: kernel-iseries64
kernel-ppc64
kernel-source
Product(s): SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 for IBM iSeries and IBM pSeries
Patch: patch-9970
Release: 20050322
Obsoletes: none

Indications

Everyone using the Linux Kernel on PPC architecture should update.

Contraindications

None.

Problem description

This update fixes following security bugs:

CAN-2005-0136: Fixed a local denial of service problem on ia64 which was possible to trigger by using the ptrace system call.
It was possible to deadlock the NFS lockd by special multi client access patterns.
Missing checking in the epoll system calls allowed overwriting of a small range of kernel memory.

Additionally following bugs were fixed:

ppc: SA_ONESHOT signals are handled correctly now.
Fixed bad checks for ipv6_add_addr() return values which lead to crashes.
Fixed an assertion failure in do_get_write_access().

Solution

Please install the updates provided at the location noted below.

Installation notes

This update is provided as an RPM package that can easily be installed onto a running system.
First, find out which kernel package to use, for example with


rpm -qf /boot/vmlinuz

Download the kernel image fitting your setup and install it with either:

rpm -Fvh kernel-iseries64*.rpm for the 64 bit iSeries kernel image, or
rpm -Fvh kernel-ppc64*.rpm for the 64 bit PPC kernel image

Please do only install one of these kernels, not all of them.
After performing the RPM package update of your kernel package, you must execute the following commands as root to make sure that your system will start up again:


mk_initrd
lilo

Finally, reboot the system with


shutdown -r now

to load the new kernel (replace "now" with the appropriate amount of time to allow local users to cleanly log out, for example "+5" for five minutes.)

links to download packages

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 for IBM iSeries and IBM pSeries (ppc)

Download Source Packages

Download the source code of the patches for maintained products.

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