- Issued:
- 2003-12-19
- Updated:
- 2003-12-19
RHSA-2003:368 - Security Advisory
Synopsis
Updated IA64 kernel packages address security vulnerabilities, bugfixes
Type/Severity
Security Advisory: Important
Topic
Updated kernel packages that address several security vulnerabilites, fix a
number of bugs, and update various drivers are now available.
Description
The Linux kernel handles the basic functions of the operating system.
A flaw in bounds checking in the do_brk() function in the Linux kernel
versions 2.4.22 and previous can allow a local attacker to gain root
privileges. This issue is known to be exploitable; an exploit (for x86
architectures) has been seen in the wild that takes advantage of this
vulnerability. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project
(cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0961 to this issue.
The execve system call in Linux 2.4.x records the file descriptor of the
executable process in the file table of the calling process, which allows
local users to gain read access to restricted file descriptors. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2003-0476 to this issue.
A hangcheck timer (which is used to detect system hangs or pauses) has been
added.
In addition, a number of drivers have been updated:
- e1000 5.2.20-k1
- cmpci 5.64
- aic7xxx 6.2.36
- aic79xx 1.3.10
- ips 6.10.52
- cciss 2.4.50
- fusion 2.05.05+
All users of IA64 systems should upgrade to these errata packages, which
contain patches to the 2.4.18 kernel addressing these issues.
Solution
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.
To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:
rpm -Fvh [filenames]
where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade. Only those
RPMs which are currently installed will be updated. Those RPMs which are
not installed but included in the list will not be updated. Note that you
can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the
desired RPMs.
Please note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network. Many
people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:
up2date
This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.
If up2date fails to connect to Red Hat Network due to SSL
Certificate Errors, you need to install a version of the
up2date client with an updated certificate. The latest version of
up2date is available from the Red Hat FTP site and may also be
downloaded directly from the RHN website:
Affected Products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 ia64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 ia64
Fixes
- BZ - 71514 - Infinite recursion in SCSI mid layer
- BZ - 87047 - raidstop --all option failing
- BZ - 90321 - fix /proc/$PID/cmdline issue
- BZ - 96962 - ENSURE THAT HANGCHECK TIMER IS THERE IN THE IA64 TREE
- BZ - 97690 - QU3 - IPF - export kernel symbol brw_kvec_async
- BZ - 101616 - RHELAS 2.1 Q3U IPF: Lazy FPH handling bug on IPF
- BZ - 106450 - Requesting updated acenic.o driver
- BZ - 106692 - RHEL 2.1 U3: Increase tx_queue_len parameter to 1000
- BZ - 106872 - RHEL 2.1 U3: Exposure of the EFI System Table pointers in a flat file (IPF)
- BZ - 107718 - lstat() claim files owned by users with uid>64k are owned by nfsnobody
References
(none)
The Red Hat security contact is secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.