Security update for Linux kernel

Knowledgebase

(Last modified: 15OCT2004)

solutions Security update for Linux kernel SuSE Linux Maintenance Web (c6452bdf65e6356dcb37c9d14e4844cf)

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-9418
Release: 20041015
Obsoletes: 95a4d010dd110c61212e3a1d96379fbf

Indications

Everyone using the Linux Kernel on PPC architecture should update.

Contraindications

None.

Problem description

Security Fixes:

With the iptables firewall enabled in a certain configuration (as done by SuSEFirewall2) a handcrafted IP packet from a remote attacker could crash the machine.
s390: The privileged "sacf" instruction was not correctly protected, so local users could gain root access.
Some minor addition proc information leaks were fixed.

Bug fixes:

2 CD writing problems were fixed, one in BIO handling and one in highmem bounce buffer handling (machines with more than 1GB RAM).
A problem with write barriers not being issued on IDE drives that default to write cache off was fixed.
Make sure O_SYNC writes return -EIO for write errors.
Some bio related fixes for the ASMlib kernel driver.
Support for O_NOATIME in open(2) system call, fixing an LVM related problem.
Do not clear/remove referenced pages in BLKFLSBUF ioctl.
Fixed an iptables logging Oops caused by ifdown/ifup sequences.
Do not propagate TCP errors to nfsd to avoid having nfsd dieing.
Fixed some RAID 1 problems for read retry problems and device removal.
Do not dirty inherited ACLs.
Don't attach upper level SCSI drivers to raid control ports, such as the LSI/Engenio.
Fixed a USB 2.0 EHCI problem with list scanning on SMP systems.
Fixed a memory corruption in libata.

Architecture specific bug fixes:

ppc: a memory management race in multithreaded programs was fixed. (LTC11574)
ppc: handle siginfo/__SI_TIMER in the 32bit emulation layer. (LTC10642)
ppc: implement PTRACE_GETEVENTMSG 32bit emulation. (LTC8916)
ppc: corrected some incorrect data in /proc/ppc64/lparcfg. (LTC10889)
ppc: Added missing register in AltiVec context switch.
ppc: Fixed emulation of vmaddfp and vmnsubfp instruction on ppc/ppc64. (LTC10555)
ppc: Handle SIGTRAP properly for AltiVec. (LTC10356)

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.

Disclaimer

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