Security update for Linux kernel

Knowledgebase

(Last modified: 31MAY2005)

solutions Security update for Linux kernel SuSE Linux Maintenance Web (679c9816ba170a623707b09e28fd0fd7)

Applies to

Package: kernel-iseries64
kernel-ppc64
kernel-source
Product(s): SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 for IBM iSeries and IBM pSeries
Patch: patch-10215
Release: 20050531
Obsoletes: OBSOLETES: 8596a50975131034b95c025c46fc60bd
2f052099ef01089eb6b25acc317b9dde

Indications

Everyone using the Linux Kernel on PPC architecture should update.

Contraindications

None.

Problem description

This update fixes the following security problems:

when creating directories on ext2 filesystems the kernel did not zero initialize the memory allocated. Therefore potentially sensitive information could be exposed to users (CAN-2005-0400).
local users can crash the kernel via a crafted ELF library or executable, which causes a free of an invalid pointer (CAN-2005-0749).
local users could gain root access by causing a core dump of specially crafted ELF executables (CAN-2005-1263).

This update also addresses the following non-security problems:

fix files beeing truncated to four gigabytes on ext3
fix entries in /proc that caused 'top' to crash
fix kernel crash caused by busy inodes after umount
fix data corruption issue in MD multipath when retrying failed IO
enhanced locking in MD multipath and raid1
fix endless loop in IPsec
fix crash in XFS filesystem

i386 specific:

fix write performance problems on machines with more than 1GB memory

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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