Synopsis

Important: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix various security issues and several bugs
are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

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

Description

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

These updated packages fix the following security issues:

• on AMD64 architectures, the possibility of a kernel crash was discovered
  by testing the Linux kernel process-trace ability. This could allow a local
  unprivileged user to cause a denial of service (kernel crash).
  (CVE-2008-1615, Important)
  
• on 64-bit architectures, the possibility of a timer-expiration value
  overflow was found in the Linux kernel high-resolution timers
  functionality, hrtimer. This could allow a local unprivileged user to setup
  a large interval value, forcing the timer expiry value to become negative,
  causing a denial of service (kernel hang). (CVE-2007-6712, Important)
  
• the possibility of a kernel crash was found in the Linux kernel IPsec
  protocol implementation, due to improper handling of fragmented ESP
  packets. When an attacker controlling an intermediate router fragmented
  these packets into very small pieces, it would cause a kernel crash on the
  receiving node during packet reassembly. (CVE-2007-6282, Important)
  
• a potential denial of service attack was discovered in the Linux kernel
  PWC USB video driver. A local unprivileged user could use this flaw to
  bring the kernel USB subsystem into the busy-waiting state, causing a
  denial of service. (CVE-2007-5093, Low)
  

As well, these updated packages fix the following bugs:

• in certain situations, a kernel hang and a possible panic occurred when
  disabling the cpufreq daemon. This may have prevented system reboots from
  completing successfully.
  
• continual "softlockup" messages, which occurred on the guest's console
  after a successful save and restore of a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  para-virtualized guest, have been resolved.
  
• in the previous kernel packages, the kernel may not have reclaimed NFS
  locks after a system reboot.
  

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 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 Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 5.1 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 5.1 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 5.1 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 5.1 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 5.1 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 306591 - CVE-2007-5093 kernel PWC driver DoS
• BZ - 400821 - rhel5.1s2 hang at 'Disabling ondemand cpu frequency scaling' [rhel-5.1.z]
• BZ - 404291 - CVE-2007-6282 IPSec ESP kernel panics
• BZ - 429516 - booting with maxcpus=1 panics when starting cpufreq service [rhel-5.1.z]
• BZ - 431430 - CVE-2008-1615 kernel: ptrace: Unprivileged crash on x86_64 %cs corruption
• BZ - 439999 - CVE-2007-6712 kernel: infinite loop in highres timers (kernel hang)
• BZ - 444402 - [RHEL5]: Softlockup after save/restore in PV guest
• BZ - 445360 - RHEL5.1 kernel not reclaiming NFS locks when server reboots

CVEs

• CVE-2007-6282
• CVE-2008-1615
• CVE-2007-6712
• CVE-2007-5093

References

• http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#important

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5

SRPM
x86_64
kernel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 32f0ddd49f0bcf9e2e724196c3e29b615f63c93a4ebf8482d640f81f4d8c4e5e
kernel-debug-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 3aaa9662908d77589da81c039015918272a0a6c28534758cd36bfc6bf3aae66f
kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 1021983694b4a1340f0dfa0c8a8b93b66d56493e70a20af0a9cc2a64b15e6577
kernel-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 90a3033dbe035e49eeeef4795f2fbceaeb276ad6ca52234a46f6376803209017
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac
kernel-headers-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 66ab198e5c6bb734a488b5a558a8223e363c60908a69309d593f3a9a0c4838ed
kernel-xen-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: fa3f148f5092002cf6e7e5fa393ec0122e0c32d649ef967df3401086fed63eea
kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: ef7ffb75f7ee3d0b09cf689e94c9456c15f543fd7ff9cf42ee26618228f3a31e
ia64
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac
i386
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5

SRPM
x86_64
kernel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 32f0ddd49f0bcf9e2e724196c3e29b615f63c93a4ebf8482d640f81f4d8c4e5e
kernel-debug-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 3aaa9662908d77589da81c039015918272a0a6c28534758cd36bfc6bf3aae66f
kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 1021983694b4a1340f0dfa0c8a8b93b66d56493e70a20af0a9cc2a64b15e6577
kernel-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 90a3033dbe035e49eeeef4795f2fbceaeb276ad6ca52234a46f6376803209017
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac
kernel-headers-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 66ab198e5c6bb734a488b5a558a8223e363c60908a69309d593f3a9a0c4838ed
kernel-xen-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: fa3f148f5092002cf6e7e5fa393ec0122e0c32d649ef967df3401086fed63eea
kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: ef7ffb75f7ee3d0b09cf689e94c9456c15f543fd7ff9cf42ee26618228f3a31e
i386
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5

SRPM
x86_64
kernel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 32f0ddd49f0bcf9e2e724196c3e29b615f63c93a4ebf8482d640f81f4d8c4e5e
kernel-debug-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 3aaa9662908d77589da81c039015918272a0a6c28534758cd36bfc6bf3aae66f
kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 1021983694b4a1340f0dfa0c8a8b93b66d56493e70a20af0a9cc2a64b15e6577
kernel-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 90a3033dbe035e49eeeef4795f2fbceaeb276ad6ca52234a46f6376803209017
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac
kernel-headers-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 66ab198e5c6bb734a488b5a558a8223e363c60908a69309d593f3a9a0c4838ed
kernel-xen-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: fa3f148f5092002cf6e7e5fa393ec0122e0c32d649ef967df3401086fed63eea
kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: ef7ffb75f7ee3d0b09cf689e94c9456c15f543fd7ff9cf42ee26618228f3a31e
i386
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5

SRPM
s390x
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5

SRPM
ppc
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5

SRPM
x86_64
kernel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 32f0ddd49f0bcf9e2e724196c3e29b615f63c93a4ebf8482d640f81f4d8c4e5e
kernel-debug-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 3aaa9662908d77589da81c039015918272a0a6c28534758cd36bfc6bf3aae66f
kernel-debug-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 1021983694b4a1340f0dfa0c8a8b93b66d56493e70a20af0a9cc2a64b15e6577
kernel-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 90a3033dbe035e49eeeef4795f2fbceaeb276ad6ca52234a46f6376803209017
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac
kernel-headers-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: 66ab198e5c6bb734a488b5a558a8223e363c60908a69309d593f3a9a0c4838ed
kernel-xen-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: fa3f148f5092002cf6e7e5fa393ec0122e0c32d649ef967df3401086fed63eea
kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.x86_64.rpm	SHA-256: ef7ffb75f7ee3d0b09cf689e94c9456c15f543fd7ff9cf42ee26618228f3a31e
i386
kernel-doc-2.6.18-53.1.21.el5.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: c96f98831331f0abaea8426baabfbe42070e3c8bed5b3bbeffbb8c58beb39dac