Synopsis

Important: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

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.

This update fixes the following security issues:

• a logic error was found in the do_setlk() function of the Linux kernel

Network File System (NFS) implementation. If a signal interrupted a lock
request, the local POSIX lock was incorrectly created. This could cause a
denial of service on the NFS server if a file descriptor was closed before
its corresponding lock request returned. (CVE-2008-4307, Important)

• a deficiency was found in the Linux kernel system call auditing

implementation on 64-bit systems. This could allow a local, unprivileged
user to circumvent a system call audit configuration, if that configuration
filtered based on the "syscall" number or arguments.
(CVE-2009-0834, Important)

• the exit_notify() function in the Linux kernel did not properly reset the

exit signal if a process executed a set user ID (setuid) application before
exiting. This could allow a local, unprivileged user to elevate their
privileges. (CVE-2009-1337, Important)

• a flaw was found in the ecryptfs_write_metadata_to_contents() function of

the Linux kernel eCryptfs implementation. On systems with a 4096 byte
page-size, this flaw may have caused 4096 bytes of uninitialized kernel
memory to be written into the eCryptfs file headers, leading to an
information leak. Note: Encrypted files created on systems running the
vulnerable version of eCryptfs may contain leaked data in the eCryptfs file
headers. This update does not remove any leaked data. Refer to the
Knowledgebase article in the References section for further information.
(CVE-2009-0787, Moderate)

• the Linux kernel implementation of the Network File System (NFS) did not

properly initialize the file name limit in the nfs_server data structure.
This flaw could possibly lead to a denial of service on a client mounting
an NFS share. (CVE-2009-1336, Moderate)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• the enic driver (Cisco 10G Ethernet) did not operate under

virtualization. (BZ#472474)

• network interfaces using the IBM eHEA Ethernet device driver could not be

successfully configured under low-memory conditions. (BZ#487035)

• bonding with the "arp_validate=3" option may have prevented fail overs.

(BZ#488064)

• when running under virtualization, the acpi-cpufreq module wrote "Domain

attempted WRMSR" errors to the dmesg log. (BZ#488928)

• NFS clients may have experienced deadlocks during unmount. (BZ#488929)
• the ixgbe driver double counted the number of received bytes and packets.

(BZ#489459)

• the Wacom Intuos3 Lens Cursor device did not work correctly with the

Wacom Intuos3 12x12 tablet. (BZ#489460)

• on the Itanium(r) architecture, nanosleep() caused commands which used it,

such as sleep and usleep, to sleep for one second more than expected.
(BZ#490434)

• a panic and corruption of slab cache data structures occurred on 64-bit

PowerPC systems when clvmd was running. (BZ#491677)

• the NONSTOP_TSC feature did not perform correctly on the Intel(r)

microarchitecture (Nehalem) when running in 32-bit mode. (BZ#493356)

• keyboards may not have functioned on IBM eServer System p machines after

a certain point during installation or afterward. (BZ#494293)

• using Device Mapper Multipathing with the qla2xxx driver resulted in

frequent path failures. (BZ#495635)

• if the hypervisor was booted with the dom0_max_vcpus parameter set to

less than the actual number of CPUs in the system, and the cpuspeed service
was started, the hypervisor could crash. (BZ#495931)

• using Openswan to provide an IPsec virtual private network eventually

resulted in a CPU soft lockup and a system crash. (BZ#496044)

• it was possible for posix_locks_deadlock() to enter an infinite loop

(under the BKL), causing a system hang. (BZ#496842)

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 - 456282 - CVE-2008-4307 Kernel BUG() in locks_remove_flock
• BZ - 487035 - ehea network configuration fails during boot after fsck
• BZ - 487990 - CVE-2009-0834 kernel: x86-64: syscall-audit: 32/64 syscall hole
• BZ - 488064 - [RHEL-5.3] ARP packets aren't received by backup slaves breaking arp_validate=3
• BZ - 488928 - xm dmesg printk spam -- Domain attempted WRMSR 00000000000000e8 from 00000016:3d0e9470 to 00000000:00000000
• BZ - 488929 - Deadlock in flush_workqueue() results in hung nfs clients
• BZ - 489459 - [Intel 5.4 bug] ixgbe driver double counts RX byte count
• BZ - 489460 - Wacom driver does not with with mouse/lens device on intuos3
• BZ - 490434 - [5.3] The nanosleep() syscall sleeps one second longer.
• BZ - 491254 - CVE-2009-0787 kernel: ecryptfs file header infoleak
• BZ - 491677 - slab corruption with dlm and clvmd on ppc64
• BZ - 493356 - [Intel 5.4 FEAT] TSC keeps running in C3+[incremental patch for 5.3.z]
• BZ - 493771 - CVE-2009-1337 kernel: exit_notify: kill the wrong capable(CAP_KILL) check
• BZ - 494074 - CVE-2009-1336 kernel: nfsv4 client can be crashed by stating a long filename
• BZ - 494293 - RHEL5-U2 Installation hangs on p-series--7029, 2078
• BZ - 495635 - Frequent path failures during I/O on DM multipath devices
• BZ - 495929 - [5.3][Xen] APERF/MPERF patch update
• BZ - 495931 - [5.3][Xen] dom0 panic when we use dom0_max_vcpus=2.
• BZ - 496044 - Running Openswan ipsec vpn server with rhel-5.3 kernel-2.6.18-128.el5 causes crash
• BZ - 496842 - softlockups due to infinite loops in posix_locks_deadlock

CVEs

• CVE-2009-0834
• CVE-2008-4307
• CVE-2009-1337
• CVE-2009-1336
• CVE-2009-0787

References