RHSA-2005:472 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix several security issues in the Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 3 kernel are now available.

This security advisory has been rated as having important security impact
by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

Description

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

These new kernel packages contain fixes for the three security issues
described below as well as an important fix for a problem that could
lead to data corruption on x86-architecture SMP systems with greater
than 4GB of memory through heavy usage of multi-threaded applications.

A flaw between execve() syscall handling and core dumping of ELF-format
executables allowed local unprivileged users to cause a denial of
service (system crash) or possibly gain privileges. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project has assigned the name CAN-2005-1263
to this issue.

A flaw in shared memory locking allowed local unprivileged users to lock
and unlock regions of shared memory segments they did not own (CAN-2005-0176).

A flaw in the locking of SysV IPC shared memory regions allowed local
unprivileged users to bypass their RLIMIT_MEMLOCK resource limit
(CAN-2004-0491).

Note: The kernel-unsupported package contains various drivers and modules
that are unsupported and therefore might contain security problems that
have not been addressed.

All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 users are advised to upgrade their
kernels to the packages associated with their machine architectures
and configurations as listed in this erratum.

Please also consult the RHEL3 Update 5 advisory RHSA-2005:294 for the
complete list of features added and bugs fixed in U5, which was released
only a week prior to this security update.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously released
errata relevant to your system have been applied. Use Red Hat
Network to download and update your packages. To launch the Red Hat
Update Agent, use the following command:

up2date

For information on how to install packages manually, refer to the
following Web page for the System Administration or Customization
guide specific to your system:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 3 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 126411 - CAN-2004-0491 mlock accounting issue
• BZ - 141394 - Memory corruption with kernel 2.4.21-27.EL
• BZ - 141905 - kernel 2.4.21-25.ELsmp panic (kscand)
• BZ - 142802 - CAN-2005-0176 unlock someone elses ipc memory
• BZ - 149087 - Kernel panic regression in 2.4.21-27.0.2.ELsmp
• BZ - 157451 - CAN-2005-1263 Linux kernel ELF core dump crash vulnerability

CVEs

• CVE-2005-1263
• CVE-2004-0491
• CVE-2005-0176

References

(none)