Scientific Linux Security Update : kvm on SL5.x x86_64 (20120905)

high Nessus Plugin ID 61794

Synopsis

The remote Scientific Linux host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a full virtualization solution for Linux on AMD64 and Intel 64 systems. KVM is a Linux kernel module built for the standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernel.

A flaw was found in the way QEMU handled VT100 terminal escape sequences when emulating certain character devices. A guest user with privileges to write to a character device that is emulated on the host using a virtual console back-end could use this flaw to crash the qemu-kvm process on the host or, possibly, escalate their privileges on the host. (CVE-2012-3515)

This flaw did not affect the default use of KVM. Affected configurations were :

- When guests were started from the command line ('/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm'), and without specifying a serial or parallel device that specifically does not use a virtual console (vc) back-end. (Note that Red Hat does not support invoking 'qemu-kvm' from the command line on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.)

- Guests that were managed via libvirt, such as when using Virtual Machine Manager (virt-manager), but that have a serial or parallel device that uses a virtual console back-end. By default, guests managed via libvirt will not use a virtual console back-end for such devices.

All KVM users should upgrade to these updated packages, which correct this issue.

Solution

Update the affected packages.

See Also

http://www.nessus.org/u?07b8522f

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 61794

File Name: sl_20120905_kvm_on_SL5_x.nasl

Version: 1.7

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 9/6/2012

Updated: 1/14/2021

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.8

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.2

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kmod-kvm, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kmod-kvm-debug, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kvm, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kvm-qemu-img, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kvm-tools, x-cpe:/o:fermilab:scientific_linux

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/RedHat/release, Host/RedHat/rpm-list, Host/cpu

Patch Publication Date: 9/5/2012

Vulnerability Publication Date: 11/23/2012

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2012-3515