RHSA-2003:419 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated kernel packages are now available that fix a security
vulnerability which may allow local users to gain root privileges.

Description

The Linux kernel handles the basic functions of the operating system.

Paul Starzetz discovered a flaw in bounds checking in mremap() in the Linux
kernel versions 2.4.23 and previous which may allow a local attacker to
gain root privileges. No exploit is currently available; however, it is
believed that this issue is exploitable (although not trivially.) The
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned
the name CAN-2003-0985 to this issue.

All users are advised to upgrade to these errata packages, which contain a
backported security patch that corrects this issue.

Red Hat would like to thank Paul Starzetz from ISEC for disclosing this
issue as well as Andrea Arcangeli and Solar Designer for working on the patch.

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:

https://rhn.redhat.com/help/latest-up2date.pxt

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 112886 - CAN-2003-0985 mremap kernel vulnerability

CVEs

• CVE-2003-0985

References

(none)