Synopsis

Important: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix multiple security issues and several bugs
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:

• a flaw was found in the IPv6 Extension Header (EH) handling
  implementation in the Linux kernel. The skb->dst data structure was not
  properly validated in the ipv6_hop_jumbo() function. This could possibly
  lead to a remote denial of service. (CVE-2007-4567, Important)
  
• the possibility of a timeout value overflow was found in the Linux kernel
  high-resolution timers functionality, hrtimers. This could allow a local,
  unprivileged user to execute arbitrary code, or cause a denial of service
  (kernel panic). (CVE-2007-5966, Important)
  
• 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)
  
• 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)
  
• a flaw was found in the Intel PRO/1000 Linux driver (e1000) in the Linux
  kernel. Frames with sizes near the MTU of an interface may be split across
  multiple hardware receive descriptors. Receipt of such a frame could leak
  through a validation check, leading to a corruption of the length check. A
  remote attacker could use this flaw to send a specially-crafted packet that
  would cause a denial of service or code execution. (CVE-2009-1385,
  Important)
  
• the ADDR_COMPAT_LAYOUT and MMAP_PAGE_ZERO flags were not cleared when a
  setuid or setgid program was executed. A local, unprivileged user could use
  this flaw to bypass the mmap_min_addr protection mechanism and perform a
  NULL pointer dereference attack, or bypass the Address Space Layout
  Randomization (ASLR) security feature. (CVE-2009-1895, Important)
  
• a flaw was found in each of the following Intel PRO/1000 Linux drivers in
  the Linux kernel: e1000 and e1000e. A remote attacker using packets larger
  than the MTU could bypass the existing fragment check, resulting in
  partial, invalid frames being passed to the network stack. These flaws
  could also possibly be used to trigger a remote denial of service.
  (CVE-2009-4536, CVE-2009-4538, Important)
  
• a flaw was found in the Realtek r8169 Ethernet driver in the Linux
  kernel. Receiving overly-long frames with a certain revision of the network
  cards supported by this driver could possibly result in a remote denial of
  service. (CVE-2009-4537, Important)
  

Note: This update also fixes several bugs. Documentation for these bug
fixes will be available shortly from
www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/errata/RHSA-2010-0079/Kernel_Security_Update/
index.html

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 - Extended Update Support 5.2 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 5.2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - 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 - 453135 - CVE-2007-5966 kernel: non-root can trigger cpu_idle soft lockup
• BZ - 485163 - CVE-2009-0778 kernel: rt_cache leak leads to lack of network connectivity
• BZ - 487990 - CVE-2009-0834 kernel: x86-64: syscall-audit: 32/64 syscall hole
• BZ - 502981 - CVE-2009-1385 kernel: e1000_clean_rx_irq() denial of service
• BZ - 511171 - CVE-2009-1895 kernel: personality: fix PER_CLEAR_ON_SETID
• BZ - 524179 - Frequent path failures during I/O on DM multipath devices [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 546226 - RHEL5.2/3 - setpgid() returns ESRCH in some situations [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 546227 - [5.3] clock_gettime() syscall returns a smaller timespec value than previous. [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 546228 - [5.3] The nanosleep() syscall sleeps one second longer. [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 546229 - [RHEL 5] gen_estimator deadlock fix [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 546230 - softlockups due to infinite loops in posix_locks_deadlock [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 546231 - crm #1896100 port epoll_wait fix from RHSA-2008-0665 to RHEL 5 [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 546232 - NFS problem#3 of IT 106473 - 32-bit jiffy wrap around - NFS inode [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 546233 - [RHEL5.2] nfs_getattr() hangs during heavy write workloads [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 546234 - Deadlock in flush_workqueue() results in hung nfs clients [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 546236 - Kernel panic in auth_rpcgss:__gss_find_upcall [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 547299 - RHEL5.3.z LTP nanosleep02 Test Case Failure on Fujitsu Machine [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 548074 - [5.3]Write operation with O_NONBLOCK flag to TTY terminal is blocked [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 548641 - CVE-2007-4567 kernel: ipv6_hop_jumbo remote system crash
• BZ - 550907 - CVE-2009-4537 kernel: r8169 issue reported at 26c3
• BZ - 551214 - CVE-2009-4538 kernel: e1000e frame fragment issue
• BZ - 552126 - CVE-2009-4536 kernel: e1000 issue reported at 26c3
• BZ - 553133 - RHSA-2008:0508 linux-2.6.9-x86_64-copy_user-zero-tail.patch broken [rhel-5.2.z]
• BZ - 555052 - setitimer(ITIMER_REAL, ...) failing in 64bit enviroment [rhel-5.2.z]

CVEs

• CVE-2007-5966
• CVE-2009-0778
• CVE-2009-0834
• CVE-2009-1385
• CVE-2009-1895
• CVE-2009-4536
• CVE-2009-4537
• CVE-2007-4567
• CVE-2009-4538

References

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

This erratum does not contain any packages.