Synopsis

Important: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix one security issue and one bug are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 Extended Update Support.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having
Important security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)
base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the
CVE link in the References section.

Description

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux
operating system.

• A flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel processed an authenticated

COOKIE_ECHO chunk during the initialization of an SCTP connection. A remote
attacker could use this flaw to crash the system by initiating a specially
crafted SCTP handshake in order to trigger a NULL pointer dereference on
the system. (CVE-2014-0101, Important)

Red Hat would like to thank Nokia Siemens Networks for reporting this
issue.

This update also fixes the following bug:

• Due to an incorrect call of the weak-modules script in the kernel spec

file, the weak-modules directory was removed from the system when removing
or upgrading certain kernel packages related to weak-modules, such as
kernel-debug. With this update, the weak-modules call in the kernel spec
file has been corrected, and the script now preserves the weak-modules
directory on the system in this scenario. (BZ#1076599)

All kernel users are advised to 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 all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the
Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/11258

To install kernel packages manually, use "rpm -ivh [package]". Do not use
"rpm -Uvh" as that will remove the running kernel binaries from your
system. You may use "rpm -e" to remove old kernels after determining that
the new kernel functions properly on your system.

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 6.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 6.3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 6.3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 6.3 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 6.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 6.3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 6.3 x86_64

Fixes

• BZ - 1070705 - CVE-2014-0101 kernel: net: sctp: null pointer dereference when processing authenticated cookie_echo chunk

CVEs

• CVE-2014-0101

References