RHSA-2008:0275 - Security Advisory

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 for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.1 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.1 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - 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