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Security update for Linux kernel

Knowledgebase

(Last modified: 20JAN2005)


solutions Security update for Linux kernel SuSE Linux Maintenance Web (303377550ee97916c59afca6d7adf50f)

Applies to

Package: kernel-default
kernel-smp
kernel-source
kernel-syms
Product(s): SUSE CORE 9 for AMD64 and Intel EM64T
Patch: patch-9758
Release: 20050120
Obsoletes: 20fe204ab30920b70619e3e473390613

Indications

Everyone using the Linux Kernel on x86_64 architecture should update.

Contraindications

None.

Problem description

This update fixes following security problems:
  • An unlocked VM operation could lead to a local user gaining root access using a handcrafted ELF binary and the uselib system call. This problem was found by Paul Starzetz and has been assigned the Mitre CVE ID CAN-2004-1235.
  • A race condition in the SMP page fault handler could lead to a local attacker gaining root access on SMP machines. This problem was also found by Paul Starzetz and has been assigned the Mitre CVE ID CAN-2005-001.
  • A problem in the earlier cmsg / sendmsg security fix was identified and fixed which could lead 32bit applications on a 64bit system (like i386 binaries on x86_64, or PowerPC binaries on a PowerPC64 system) to handle the sendmsg call incorrectly.
  • An incomplete fix of the IGMP problem in the last update was replaced by the final approved fix.
  • The smbfs fixes done 2 security updates ago were broken for writing files. This has been fixed.
  • grsecurity reported a possible signedness problem in the generic scsi ioctl handler.
  • Bad handling of oversized NFS Direct I/O request could lead to a local denial of service attack.

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 download and use, for example with
rpm -qf /boot/vmlinuz
Download the kernel image fitting your setup and install it with either:
  • rpm -Fvh kernel-syms*.rpm kernel-default*.rpm for the default kernel image, or
  • rpm -Fvh kernel-syms*.rpm kernel-smp*.rpm for the SMP kernel image
Please do only install one of these kernels, not all of them.
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

Download Source Packages

Download the source code of the patches for maintained products.


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