RHSA-2014:1843 - Security Advisory

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix multiple security issues and several bugs
are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Red Hat Product Security 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.

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

subsystem handled PIT (Programmable Interval Timer) emulation. A guest user
who has access to the PIT I/O ports could use this flaw to crash the host.
(CVE-2014-3611, Important)

• A memory corruption flaw was found in the way the USB ConnectTech

WhiteHEAT serial driver processed completion commands sent via USB Request
Blocks buffers. An attacker with physical access to the system could use
this flaw to crash the system or, potentially, escalate their privileges on
the system. (CVE-2014-3185, Moderate)

• It was found that the Linux kernel's KVM subsystem did not handle the VM

exits gracefully for the invept (Invalidate Translations Derived from EPT)
and invvpid (Invalidate Translations Based on VPID) instructions. On hosts
with an Intel processor and invept/invppid VM exit support, an unprivileged
guest user could use these instructions to crash the guest. (CVE-2014-3645,
CVE-2014-3646, Moderate)

Red Hat would like to thank Lars Bull of Google for reporting
CVE-2014-3611, and the Advanced Threat Research team at Intel Security for
reporting CVE-2014-3645 and CVE-2014-3646.

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• This update fixes several race conditions between PCI error recovery

callbacks and potential calls of the ifup and ifdown commands in the tg3
driver. When triggered, these race conditions could cause a kernel crash.
(BZ#1142570)

• Previously, GFS2 failed to unmount a sub-mounted GFS2 file system if its

parent was also a GFS2 file system. This problem has been fixed by adding
the appropriate d_op->d_hash() routine call for the last component of the
mount point path in the path name lookup mechanism code (namei).
(BZ#1145193)

• Due to previous changes in the virtio-net driver, a Red Hat Enterprise

Linux 6.6 guest was unable to boot with the "mgr_rxbuf=off" option
specified. This was caused by providing the page_to_skb() function with an
incorrect packet length in the driver's Rx path. This problem has been
fixed and the guest in the described scenario can now boot successfully.
(BZ#1148693)

• When using one of the newer IPSec Authentication Header (AH) algorithms

with Openswan, a kernel panic could occur. This happened because the
maximum truncated ICV length was too small. To fix this problem, the
MAX_AH_AUTH_LEN parameter has been set to 64. (BZ#1149083)

• A bug in the IPMI driver caused the kernel to panic when an IPMI

interface was removed using the hotmod script. The IPMI driver has been
fixed to properly clean the relevant data when removing an IPMI interface.
(BZ#1149578)

• Due to a bug in the IPMI driver, the kernel could panic when adding an

IPMI interface that was previously removed using the hotmod script.
This update fixes this bug by ensuring that the relevant shadow structure
is initialized at the right time. (BZ#1149580)

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 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 6.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 6.6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 6.6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 6.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 6.6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 6.6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 6.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS Compute Node 6.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - TUS 6.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 1141400 - CVE-2014-3185 Kernel: USB serial: memory corruption flaw
• BZ - 1144825 - CVE-2014-3646 kernel: kvm: vmx: invvpid vm exit not handled
• BZ - 1144835 - CVE-2014-3645 kernel: kvm: vmx: invept vm exit not handled
• BZ - 1144878 - CVE-2014-3611 kernel: kvm: PIT timer race condition

CVEs

• CVE-2014-3185
• CVE-2014-3611
• CVE-2014-3646
• CVE-2014-3645

References

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