Security update for Linux kernel

Knowledgebase

(Last modified: 08OCT2007)

solutions Security update for Linux kernel SuSE Linux Maintenance Web (615785e3ad7b9994c5088545f0cfc2b5)

Applies to

Package: kernel-default
kernel-default-debug
kernel-smp
kernel-smp-debug
kernel-source
kernel-syms
um-host-kernel
Product(s): SUSE CORE 9 for AMD64 and Intel EM64T
Novell Linux Desktop 9 for x86_64
Patch: patch-11815
Release: 20071008
Obsoletes: 4309006ed78370b6a442ab18e97609c1

Indications

Everyone using the Linux Kernel on x86_64 architecture should update.

Contraindications

None.

Problem description

This kernel update fixes the following security problems:

CVE-2007-2876: A NULL pointer dereference in SCTP connection tracking could be caused by a remote attacker by sending specially crafted packets. Note that this requires SCTP set-up and active to be exploitable. This bug was already fixed in openSUSE 10.2 and SLES10.
The handling of the usage counter for bond devices was fixed.
CVE-2007-3105: Stack-based buffer overflow in the random number generator (RNG) implementation in the Linux kernel before 2.6.22 might allow local root users to cause a denial of service or gain privileges by setting the default wake-up threshold to a value greater than the output pool size, which triggers writing random numbers to the stack by the pool transfer function involving "bound check ordering". Since this value can only be changed by a root user, exploitability is low. This was already fixed for SLES10.
CVE-2007-2525: A memory leak in the PPPoE driver can be abused by local users to cause a denial-of-service condition. This bug was already fixed for SLES10.
CVE-2007-3848: Local users are allowed to send arbitrary signals to child processes running with different UID. This bug was already fixed for SLES10
CVE-2007-4573: It was possible for local user to become root by exploiting a bug in the IA32 system call emulation. This affects x86_64 platforms with kernel 2.4.x and 2.6.x before 2.6.22.7 only.
CVE-2007-4571: An information disclosure vulnerability in the ALSA driver can be exploited by local users to read sensitive data from the kernel memory.

and the following non security bugs:

patches.fixes/ide-tape-no-device: Prevent oops in ide-tape when opening a non-existent device [#165539]
patches.fixes/oom-fix-spurious-kills: go in sync with mainline to avoid spurious oom kills [#202338]
patches.fixes/oom-fix-deadlocks: fix lots of oom deadlock related bugs [#202338]
patches.fixes/reiserfs-unsigned-less-than-zero-checks.diff: reiserfs: do not check if unsigned < 0 [#208950]
patches.fixes/sbp2_dma_boundary.patch: [#243270] set a conservative DMA limit for buffers to be transferred via sbp2
patches.drivers/mptspi-sequential-scan-hang: [#243401] Boot time hang during sequential scan of SCSI-2 target LUNs
patches.fixes/scsi-remove-host-procfs: kernel Oops after rmmod lpfc [#251257]
patches.fixes/fusion-nat-consumption-fix: Handle a potential race in mptbase. This fixes a NaT consumption crash [#257412]
patches.fixes/fix-hiddev-oops-2: Fix disconnect oops in hiddev [#279318]
patches.fixes/nfs-osync-error-return: Ensure proper error return from O_SYNC writes [#280833]
patches.fixes/lockd-chroot-fix: Allow lockd to work reliably with applications in a chroot [#288376] [#305480]
patches.fixes/make-swappiness-safer-to-use.patch: Handle low swappiness more gracefully [#288799]
patches.arch/x86_64-dac-memleak: Fix memory leak in pci_alloc_consistent [#302094]
patches.fixes/reiserfs-transaction-overflow: reiserfs: handle trans_id overflow [#329645]

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 the kernel symbols (kernel-syms*.rpm) and install it with either:

rpm -Fvh kernel-syms*.rpm kernel-default*.rpm for the default kernel image, or
rpm -Fhv kernel-syms*.rpm kernel-smp*.rpm for the SMP kernel image with support for up to 64 GB, or
rpm -Fhv kernel-syms*.rpm kernel-bigsmp*.rpm for the SMP kernel image with support for up to 64 GB

Please do only install one of these kernels, not all of them.
In case you are using LILO as bootmanager, please make sure that you also execute the command

lilo

after installing the update for the system to remain bootable.
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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