RHSA-2009:1457 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix several security issues are now available
for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 Extended Update Support.

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:

• Michael Tokarev reported a flaw in the Realtek r8169 Ethernet driver in

the Linux kernel. This driver allowed interfaces using this driver to
receive frames larger than what could be handled. This could lead to a
remote denial of service or code execution. (CVE-2009-1389, Important)

• Tavis Ormandy and Julien Tinnes of the Google Security Team reported a

flaw 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)

• Tavis Ormandy and Julien Tinnes of the Google Security Team reported a

flaw 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)

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 for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.2 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.2 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 5.2 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 5.2 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 504726 - CVE-2009-1389 kernel: r8169: fix crash when large packets are received
• 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-2009-1389
• CVE-2009-2698
• CVE-2009-2692

References

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