Synopsis

Important: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix several security issues and a bug are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

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:

• A security flaw was found in the Linux kernel memory copy routines, when
  running on certain AMD64 systems. If an unsuccessful attempt to copy kernel
  memory from source to destination memory locations occurred, the copy
  routines did not zero the content at the destination memory location. This
  could allow a local unprivileged user to view potentially sensitive data.
  (CVE-2008-2729, Important)
  
• Alexey Dobriyan discovered a race condition in the Linux kernel
  process-tracing system call, ptrace. A local unprivileged user could
  use this flaw to cause a denial of service (kernel hang).
  (CVE-2008-2365, Important)
  
• Tavis Ormandy discovered a deficiency in the Linux kernel 32-bit and
  64-bit emulation. This could allow a local unprivileged user to prepare and
  run a specially crafted binary, which would use this deficiency to leak
  uninitialized and potentially sensitive data. (CVE-2008-0598, Important)
  
• It was discovered that the Linux kernel handled string operations in the
  opposite way to the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). This could allow a local
  unprivileged user to cause memory corruption. (CVE-2008-1367, Low)
  

As well, these updated packages fix the following bug:

• On systems with a large number of CPUs (more than 16), multiple
  applications calling the "times()" system call may have caused a system
  hang.
  

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 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 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 4.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 4.6 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 4.6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 4.6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 4.6 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 4.6 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 433938 - CVE-2008-0598 kernel: linux x86_64 ia32 emulation leaks uninitialized data
• BZ - 437312 - CVE-2008-1367 Kernel doesn't clear DF for signal handlers
• BZ - 449101 - [4.7] System goes unresponsive if times() syscall is called concurrently on many cpus
• BZ - 449359 - CVE-2008-2365 kernel: ptrace: Crash on PTRACE_{ATTACH,DETACH} race
• BZ - 451271 - CVE-2008-2729 kernel: [x86_64] The string instruction version didn't zero the output on exception.

CVEs

• CVE-2008-1367
• CVE-2008-2729
• CVE-2008-2365
• CVE-2008-0598

References

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

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4

SRPM
x86_64
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
ia64
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
i386
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 4.6

SRPM
x86_64
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
ia64
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
i386
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4

SRPM
x86_64
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
ia64
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
i386
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4

SRPM
x86_64
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
i386
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4

SRPM
s390x
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
s390
kernel-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.s390.rpm	SHA-256: 3ed608aced077fe1b6cfbc7bf72f41d1382fcdb3d35d4bf1449b2be3fcef47aa
kernel-devel-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.s390.rpm	SHA-256: 266f3893a82952aea2cf0b7a0aa53c0e787406ad455150cdaa75fedbc3c360d9
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 4.6

SRPM
s390x
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb
s390
kernel-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.s390.rpm	SHA-256: 3ed608aced077fe1b6cfbc7bf72f41d1382fcdb3d35d4bf1449b2be3fcef47aa
kernel-devel-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.s390.rpm	SHA-256: 266f3893a82952aea2cf0b7a0aa53c0e787406ad455150cdaa75fedbc3c360d9
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4

SRPM
ppc
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb

Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 4.6

SRPM
ppc
kernel-doc-2.6.9-67.0.20.EL.noarch.rpm	SHA-256: 79b9b66b401b33f0d757b622080ba7f3cce6caf98bd5bee763fa17f5e7948dfb