Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix several 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.

Security fixes:

• memory leaks were found on some error paths in the icmp_send()

function in the Linux kernel. This could, potentially, cause the network
connectivity to cease. (CVE-2009-0778, Important)

• Chris Evans reported a deficiency in the clone() system call when called

with the CLONE_PARENT flag. This flaw permits the caller (the parent
process) to indicate an arbitrary signal it wants to receive when its child
process exits. This could lead to a denial of service of the parent
process. (CVE-2009-0028, Moderate)

• an off-by-one underflow flaw was found in the eCryptfs subsystem. This

could potentially cause a local denial of service when the readlink()
function returned an error. (CVE-2009-0269, Moderate)

• a deficiency was found in the Remote BIOS Update (RBU) driver for Dell

systems. This could allow a local, unprivileged user to cause a denial of
service by reading zero bytes from the image_type or packet_size files in
"/sys/devices/platform/dell_rbu/". (CVE-2009-0322, Moderate)

• an inverted logic flaw was found in the SysKonnect FDDI PCI adapter

driver, allowing driver statistics to be reset only when the CAP_NET_ADMIN
capability was absent (local, unprivileged users could reset driver
statistics). (CVE-2009-0675, Moderate)

• the sock_getsockopt() function in the Linux kernel did not properly

initialize a data structure that can be directly returned to user-space
when the getsockopt() function is called with SO_BSDCOMPAT optname set.
This flaw could possibly lead to memory disclosure.
(CVE-2009-0676, Moderate)

• the ext2 and ext3 file system code failed to properly handle corrupted

data structures, leading to a possible local denial of service when read
or write operations were performed on a specially-crafted file system.
(CVE-2008-3528, Low)

• a deficiency was found in the libATA implementation. This could,

potentially, lead to a local denial of service. Note: by default, the
"/dev/sg*" devices are accessible only to the root user.
(CVE-2008-5700, Low)

Bug fixes:

• a bug in aic94xx may have caused kernel panics during boot on some

systems with certain SATA disks. (BZ#485909)

• a word endianness problem in the qla2xx driver on PowerPC-based machines

may have corrupted flash-based devices. (BZ#485908)

• a memory leak in pipe() may have caused a system deadlock. The workaround

in Section 1.5, Known Issues, of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 Release
Notes Updates, which involved manually allocating extra file descriptors to
processes calling do_pipe, is no longer necessary. (BZ#481576)

• CPU soft-lockups in the network rate estimator. (BZ#481746)
• bugs in the ixgbe driver caused it to function unreliably on some

systems with 16 or more CPU cores. (BZ#483210)

• the iwl4965 driver may have caused a kernel panic. (BZ#483206)
• a bug caused NFS attributes to not update for some long-lived NFS

mounted file systems. (BZ#483201)

• unmounting a GFS2 file system may have caused a panic. (BZ#485910)
• a bug in ptrace() may have caused a panic when single stepping a target.

(BZ#487394)

• on some 64-bit systems, notsc was incorrectly set at boot, causing slow

gettimeofday() calls. (BZ#488239)

• do_machine_check() cleared all Machine Check Exception (MCE) status

registers, preventing the BIOS from using them to determine the cause of
certain panics and errors. (BZ#490433)

• scaling problems caused performance problems for LAPI applications.

(BZ#489457)

• a panic may have occurred on systems using certain Intel WiFi Link 5000

products when booting with the RF Kill switch on. (BZ#489846)

• the TSC is invariant with C/P/T states, and always runs at constant

frequency from now on. (BZ#489310)

All users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain
backported patches to correct these issues. The system must be rebooted for
this update to take effect.

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/docs/DOC-11259

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 5.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.3 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 5.3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 5.3 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 459577 - CVE-2008-3528 Linux kernel ext[234] directory corruption denial of service
• BZ - 474495 - CVE-2008-5700 kernel: enforce a minimum SG_IO timeout
• BZ - 479932 - CVE-2009-0028 Linux kernel minor signal handling vulnerability
• BZ - 481576 - multipath test causes memory leak and eventual system deadlock
• BZ - 481604 - CVE-2009-0269 kernel: ecryptfs readlink flaw
• BZ - 481746 - [RHEL 5] gen_estimator deadlock fix
• BZ - 482866 - CVE-2009-0322 kernel: dell_rbu local oops
• BZ - 483201 - NFS problem#3 of IT 106473 - 32-bit jiffy wrap around - NFS inode
• BZ - 483206 - Kernel panic in iwl4965 driver
• BZ - 485163 - CVE-2009-0778 kernel: rt_cache leak leads to lack of network connectivity
• BZ - 485908 - [QLogic 5.4 bug] qla2xx - Word-endian problem programming flash on PPC
• BZ - 485909 - Panic at boot if SATA disk is present
• BZ - 485910 - reproducible panic in debugfs_remove when unmounting gfs2 filesystem
• BZ - 486305 - CVE-2009-0676 kernel: memory disclosure in SO_BSDCOMPAT gsopt
• BZ - 486534 - CVE-2009-0675 kernel: skfp_ioctl inverted logic flaw
• BZ - 487394 - kernel BUG at kernel/ptrace.c:1068
• BZ - 488239 - RHEL5 kernel forces notsc on certain systems [C-state support dependant]
• BZ - 489310 - [Intel 5.4 FEAT] TSC keeps running in C3+
• BZ - 489457 - Lapi takes too long to run
• BZ - 489846 - RHEL 5.3 GA kernel panics when RF Kill is on in 5100/5300 AGN
• BZ - 490433 - RHEL5.3 (x86_64): MCE handler must not clear status registers on fatal conditions

CVEs

• CVE-2008-3528
• CVE-2008-5700
• CVE-2009-0322
• CVE-2009-0676
• CVE-2009-0675
• CVE-2009-0269
• CVE-2009-0028
• CVE-2009-0778

References

• http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#important
• http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5/html/Release_Notes/index.html#d0e497