RHBA-2008:0846 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix various bugs are now available for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 4.5.

Description

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux
operating system.

These updated packages fix the following bugs:

• the GNU libc stub resolver is a minimal resolver that works with Domain

Name System (DNS) servers to satisfy requests from applications for names.
The GNU libc stub resolver did not specify a source UDP port, and therefore
used predictable port numbers. This could have made DNS-spoofing attacks
easier.

The Linux kernel has been updated to implement random UDP source ports
where none are specified by an application. This allows applications, such
as those using the GNU libc stub resolver, to use random UDP source ports,
helping to make DNS spoofing attacks harder.

• added support for platforms based on Intel(r) Penryn processors. This

enables the possibility of performance profiling with the oprofile system
profiler utility.

• Intel(r) Penryn and later processor models were incorrectly identified.

These updated kernel packages fix the detection of CPU Family IDs for
recent-model Intel(r) processors.

• a client-side race on blocking locks caused large time delays on NFS file

systems.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 users are advised to upgrade to these updated
packages, which contain backported patches to resolve these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_58_10188

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 4.5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 4.5 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 4.5 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 440401 - LTC41942-30 second flock() calls against files stored on a NetApp while using NFS
• BZ - 448357 - oprofile fix to support Penryn-based processors
• BZ - 448359 - RHEL4 kernel ignores extended cpu model field

CVEs

(none)

References

• http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_42_11697.shtm