Synopsis

Important: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix two security issues and a bug 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:

• a flaw was found in the SOCKOPS_WRAP macro in the Linux kernel. This

macro did not initialize the sendpage operation in the proto_ops structure
correctly. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a local
denial of service or escalate their privileges. (CVE-2009-2692, Important)

• a flaw was found in the udp_sendmsg() implementation in the Linux kernel

when using the MSG_MORE flag on UDP sockets. A local, unprivileged user
could use this flaw to cause a local denial of service or escalate their
privileges. (CVE-2009-2698, Important)

Red Hat would like to thank Tavis Ormandy and Julien Tinnes of the Google
Security Team for responsibly reporting these flaws.

These updated packages also fix the following bug:

• in the dlm code, a socket was allocated in tcp_connect_to_sock(), but was

not freed in the error exit path. This bug led to a memory leak and an
unresponsive system. A reported case of this bug occurred after running
"cman_tool kill -n [nodename]". (BZ#515432)

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 - 515432 - dlm_send socket leak [rhel-5.3.z]
• BZ - 516949 - CVE-2009-2692 kernel: uninit op in SOCKOPS_WRAP() leads to privesc
• BZ - 518034 - CVE-2009-2698 kernel: udp socket NULL ptr dereference

CVEs

• CVE-2009-2698
• CVE-2009-2692

References