Security update for Linux kernel

Knowledgebase

(Last modified: 20JAN2005)

solutions Security update for Linux kernel SuSE Linux Maintenance Web (8494b1da78e4b765909cacbb0215523a)

Applies to

Package: kernel-bigsmp
kernel-default
kernel-smp
kernel-source
kernel-um
kernel-debug
kernel-syms
um-host-kernel
um-host-install-initrd
Product(s): SUSE CORE 9 for x86
Novell Linux Desktop 9 for x86
Patch: patch-9760
Release: 20050120
Obsoletes: cacc34d1f090391afbadbdbceedcb110

Indications

Everyone using the Linux Kernel on x86 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 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

links to download packages

Download Source Packages

Download the source code of the patches for maintained products.

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