Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix multiple security issues and several bugs
are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having
Important security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base
scores, which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each
vulnerability from the CVE links in the References section.

Description

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

• It was found that Linux kernel's ptrace subsystem did not properly

sanitize the address-space-control bits when the program-status word (PSW)
was being set. On IBM S/390 systems, a local, unprivileged user could use
this flaw to set address-space-control bits to the kernel space, and thus
gain read and write access to kernel memory. (CVE-2014-3534, Important)

• It was found that the permission checks performed by the Linux kernel

when a netlink message was received were not sufficient. A local,
unprivileged user could potentially bypass these restrictions by passing a
netlink socket as stdout or stderr to a more privileged process and
altering the output of this process. (CVE-2014-0181, Moderate)

• It was found that a remote attacker could use a race condition flaw in

the ath_tx_aggr_sleep() function to crash the system by creating large
network traffic on the system's Atheros 9k wireless network adapter.
(CVE-2014-2672, Moderate)

• A flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel performed forking inside of

a transaction. A local, unprivileged user on a PowerPC system that supports
transactional memory could use this flaw to crash the system.
(CVE-2014-2673, Moderate)

• A race condition flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's mac80211

subsystem implementation handled synchronization between TX and STA wake-up
code paths. A remote attacker could use this flaw to crash the system.
(CVE-2014-2706, Moderate)

• An integer underflow flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's Stream

Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) implementation processed certain
COOKIE_ECHO packets. By sending a specially crafted SCTP packet, a remote
attacker could use this flaw to prevent legitimate connections to a
particular SCTP server socket to be made. (CVE-2014-4667, Moderate)

Red Hat would like to thank Martin Schwidefsky of IBM for reporting
CVE-2014-3534, Andy Lutomirski for reporting CVE-2014-0181, and Gopal Reddy
Kodudula of Nokia Siemens Networks for reporting CVE-2014-4667.

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• Due to a NULL pointer dereference bug in the IPIP and SIT tunneling code,

a kernel panic could be triggered when using IPIP or SIT tunnels with
IPsec. This update restructures the related code to avoid a NULL pointer
dereference and the kernel no longer panics when using IPIP or SIT tunnels
with IPsec. (BZ#1114957)

• Previously, an IBM POWER8 system could terminate unexpectedly when the

kernel received an IRQ while handling a transactional memory re-checkpoint
critical section. This update ensures that IRQs are disabled in this
situation and the problem no longer occurs. (BZ#1113150)

• A missing read memory barrier, rmb(), in the bnx2x driver caused the

kernel to crash under various circumstances. This problem has been fixed
by adding an rmb() call to the relevant place in the bnx2x code.
(BZ#1107721)

• The hpwdt driver previously emitted a panic message that was misleading

on certain HP systems. This update ensures that upon a kernel panic, hpwdt
displays information valid on all HP systems. (BZ#1096961)

• The qla2xxx driver has been upgraded to version 8.06.00.08.07.0-k3,

which provides a number of bug fixes over the previous version in order to
correct various timeout problems with the mailbox commands. (BZ#1112389)

• The SCSI mid-layer could retry an I/O operation indefinitely if a storage

array repeatedly returned a CHECK CONDITION status to that I/O operation
but the sense data was invalid. This update fixes the problem by limiting
a time for which is such an I/O operation retried. (BZ#1114468)

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/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 Server 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 7.7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 7.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 7.5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 7.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 7.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 7 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 7.7 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 7.6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 7.5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 7.4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 7.3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 7 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 7.7 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 7.6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 7.5 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 7.4 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 7.3 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 7.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 7.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 7.7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 7.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 7.3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.7 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Update Services for SAP Solutions 7.3 x86_64

Fixes

• BZ - 1083213 - CVE-2014-2673 kernel: powerpc: tm: crash when forking inside a transaction
• BZ - 1083246 - CVE-2014-2672 kernel: ath9k: tid->sched race in ath_tx_aggr_sleep()
• BZ - 1083512 - CVE-2014-2706 Kernel: net: mac80211: crash dues to AP powersave TX vs. wakeup race
• BZ - 1094265 - CVE-2014-0181 kernel: net: insufficient permision checks of netlink messages
• BZ - 1113967 - CVE-2014-4667 kernel: sctp: sk_ack_backlog wrap-around problem
• BZ - 1114089 - CVE-2014-3534 kernel: s390: ptrace: insufficient sanitization when setting psw mask

CVEs

• CVE-2014-2672
• CVE-2014-2706
• CVE-2014-0181
• CVE-2014-4667
• CVE-2014-2673
• CVE-2014-3534

References

• https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#important