Security update for kernel

Knowledgebase

(Last modified: 25MAY2005)

solutions Security update for kernel SuSE Linux Maintenance Web (68c69c48914f4449e711808448aefd2b)

Applies to

Package: kernel-default
kernel-iseries64
kernel-pmac64
kernel-pseries64
kernel-smp
kernel-source
kernel-syms
Product(s): SUSE CORE 9 for IBM POWER
Patch: patch-10058
Release: 20050525
Obsoletes: b47839236d4235af750bf0cf0143b9d6

Indications

Everyone using the Linux Kernel on PPC architecture should update.

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). The problem is believed to be not exploitable on kernel 2.6, we included the patch nevertheless.

This update also addresses the following non-security problems:

fix NFS corrupting renamed files
fix Oops in acl code
fix building the kernel package with the 'build' program
fix performance problems due to inode cache size
fix potential deadlock when renaming files

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-syms*.rpm kernel-default*.rpm for the default kernel image, or
rpm -Fvh kernel-syms*.rpm kernel-iseries64*.rpm for the 64 bit iSeries kernel image, or
rpm -Fvh kernel-syms*.rpm kernel-pseries64*.rpm for the 64 bit pSeries kernel image, or
rpm -Fvh kernel-syms*.rpm kernel-smp*.rpm for the SMP kernel image, or
rpm -Fvh kernel-syms*.rpm kernel-pmac64*.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 9 for IBM POWER (ppc)

Download Source Packages

Download the source code of the patches for maintained products.

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